BV  3797  .S55 

Smith,  Gipsy,  1860-1947 
Evangelistic  talks 


EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 
GIPSY  SMITH 


EVANGELIS 
TALKS 


MAr-1  1S 


1^1 
GIPSY 'SMITH 


ime^V  ^/ 


AUTHOR  OF  "THE  LOST  CHRIST,"   "YOUR  BOYS,'' 
"REVIVAL  SERMONS,"    ETC. 


WITH  A  FOREWORD  BY 

Rev.  JAMES  I.  VANCE,  d.d. 


NEW  -^lajr  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1922. 
BY  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


EVANGELISTIC  TALKS.     II 
PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


FOREWORD 

The  chapters  which  follow  in  this  volume  reveal 
Gipsy  Smith.  They  discover  his  mind  and  heart 
processes  in  a  way  that  is  both  accurate  and  unusual. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  on  the  platform  just 
behind  the  evangelist  while  he  was  delivering  the  ad- 
dresses which  are  the  make-up  of  this  book,  and  not 
only  hear  them  all,  but  as  Chairman  of  the  Executive 
Committee  conducting  the  campaign,  to  have  in  hand 
the  details  connected  with  their  delivery. 

They  were  Gipsy's  noonday  addresses  delivered  in 
Ryman  Auditorium,  Nashville,  Tennessee,  on  the 
week-days,  Saturdays  excepted,  from  February  12th  to 
March  12th,  1922.  The  auditorium  has  a  seating  ca- 
pacity of  five  thousand,  but  the  crowds  were  so  great 
that  the  building  was  not  only  packed  at  the  noon  as 
well  as  the  night  hours,  but  vast  numbers  were  turned 
away  unable  even  to  get  inside  the  building. 

The  sensational  feature  of  these  addresses,  however, 
apart  from  the  spiritual  results  of  the  message,  was 
not  in  the  crowds  attracted,  but  in  the  wonderful 
versatility  and  swift  mind  and  heart  reaction  of  the 
speaker. 

The  plan  used  at  the  noon  hour  was  this :  Each  day 
a  local  pastor  was  teamed  with  the  evangelist.  The 
local  pastor  occupied  the  first  ten  minutes,  speaking  on 
some  passage  of  his  own  selection  from  the  Bible. 


vi  FOREWORD 

Gipsy  was  not  only  in  complete  ignorance  of  what  the 
local  pastor  was  to  speak  about,  but  also  of  his  iden- 
tity until  a  moment  before  he  arose  to  speak,  when  I 
gave  the  evangelist  the  pastor's  name,  and  he  was 
presented  by  Gipsy  to  the  audience.  Thus  without 
any  previous  special  preparation,  without  any  time  in 
which  to  form  an  outline  or  assemble  thoughts  save 
the  ten  minutes  of  the  first  speaker's  address,  in  entire 
ignorance  of  what  the  theme  was  to  be,  the  marvellous 
addresses  in  this  volume  were  delivered.     And  they 

WERE  INVARIABLY  ON  THE  THEME  AND  THE  SCRIP- 
TURE PRESENTED  BY  THE  LOCAL  PASTOR. 

Gipsy's  address  followed  the  first  speaker's,  not  in  a 
general  way,  not  in  a  few  introductory  sentences 
switching  into  a  digression,  but  closely  and  logically, 
so  far  as  the  central  theme  was  concerned. 

For  this  reason,  these  chapters  in  a  striking  way 
reveal  the  man.  He  has  the  resourcefulness  of  the 
greatest  of  preachers.  With  a  mental  grasp  swift,  ac- 
curate, and  original ;  with  a  command  of  simple  words 
full  of  colour  and  action;  with  a  delivery  free  of  all 
tricks  and  affectation;  with  an  eloquence  sweeping 
from  tears  to  smiles,  mastering  the  mind,  fusing  the 
passions,  capturing  the  will,  Gipsy  Smith  reached  in 
these  impromptu  addresses  at  Nashville  a  height  of 
pulpit  power  the  writer  has  not  known  surpassed. 

To  find  satisfying  explanation,  one  needs  to  go  back 
to  Pentecost. 

James  I.  Vance. 

Nashville,  Tennessee. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  My   People   Shall  Be   Called   by   My 

Name 11 

II  If  Ye  Abide  in  Me 17 

III  I  AM  the  Good  Shepherd  ....  23 

IV  Love 29 

V  The  Hope  of  Glory  .       ...       I  36 

VI  What  Shall  I  Do  Then  with  Jesus?  .  43 

VII  And  Lot  Lifted  Up  His  Eyes  ...  49 

VIII  Come 55 

IX  What  Wilt  Thou  That  I  Should  Do 

UNTO  Thee? 62 

X  If  any  Man  Thirst 67 

XI  Who  Hath  Believed  Our  Report?       .  74 

XII  There  Shall  Ye  See  Him        ...  81 

XIII  The  Unsearchable  Riches  of  Christ  .  89 

XIV  Blessed  Are  the  Pure  in  Heart     .        .  97 
XV  Ye  Shall  Receive  Power        .        .       .  106 

XVI  He  Pleased  God 113 

XVII  Then  Drew  Near  unto  Him    .        .       .  119 

XVIII  The  Wages  of  Sin  Is  Death    ...  125 

XIX  The  Understanding  of  the  Prudent  .  132 

XX  Twenty  Two-Minute  Sermonettes      .  143 


vti 


EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 


EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 


MY  PEOPLE  SHALL  BE  CALLED  BY  MY  NAME 

II  Chron.  7:14. — "If  my  people,  which  are  called  by  my 
name,  shall  humble  themselves,  and  pray,  and  seek  my 
face,  and  turn  from  their  wicked  ways;  then  will  I 
hear  from  Heaven  and  will  forgive  their  sin,  and 
will  heal  their  land." 

"My  people  shall  be  called  by  my  name.'* 

The  promise  is  to  "my  people."  Don't  you  forget 
that  word.  The  promise  is  not  to  any  people — only 
to  the  people  who  can  legitimately  be  called  "my 
people." 

So  this  morning  I  ask  you  to  look  into  your  hearts 
and  find  out  if  you  really,  and  truly,  and  wholly,  have 
surrendered  and  obeyed,  and  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ 
can  honestly  say  you  belong  to  God. 

I  am  not  talking  in  the  general  sense  because  in  the 
general  sense  everything  belongs  to  Him,  but  I  am 
talking  of  whom  the  Bible  spoke — "my  people." 

Now  do  you  belong  to  Him? 

Many  came  to  Jesus  and  said  to  Him,  "In  Thy 
name  we  have  cast  out  devils  and  in  Thy  name  have 
done  many  wonderful  works."     But  Jesus   said   to 

11 


12  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

them,  "I  never  knew  you — you  don't  belong  to  me." 

Which  crowd  do  you  belong  to?  To  the  separated 
few  working  for  God,  those  that  have  yielded  them- 
selves as  servants  to  God — who  have  come  out  from 
the  world,  and  have  learned  the  wonderful  joy  of  com- 
plete fellowship  with  Him? 

"My  people" — these  words  were  spoken  to  my 
people.  If  my  people  ask,  if  my  people  believe,  if  my 
people  meet  the  conditions — then  it  is  that  they  may 
expect  an  answer  when  God  says  "My." 

Do  you  remember  one  day  when  Jesus  was  teaching 
and  healing,  and  His  mother  and  brothers  came  to  see 
Him  ?  The  crowd  was  so  great  that  they  couldn't  get 
into  the  house  where  He  was.  They  were  impatient 
with  Him — they  had  not  learned  to  follow  Him. 
Messengers  brought  Him  word  that  His  mother  and 
His  brothers  were  waiting  for  Him  on  the  outside. 

Jesus  answered  them,  "Who  is  my  mother?  Who 
are  my  sisters?  Who  are  my  brothers?  All  that  do 
the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  The  same 
is  my  mother,  my  sister  and  my  brother." 

"My  people" — if  you  are  doing  the  will  of  God 
intelligently,  if  you  are  obeying  God's  commandments, 
then  you  can  ask  things  of  God,  and  you  will  get  them. 

The  Lord  will  not  hear  any  who  have  not  done 
His  will — they  do  not  know  how  to  ask — they  ask 
amiss.  The  man  who  is  out  of  harmony  with  God 
can't  ask  the  right  things  in  the  right  way.  If  you 
want  to  get  the  right  things,  first  of  all,  get  right 
yourself.  Begin  with  yourself.  Begin  with  the  per- 
son who  wears  your  clothes.  Begin  with  the  person 
who  is  sitting  where  you  are  sitting. 


MY  PEOPLE  SHALL  BE  CALLED  BY  MY  NAME    13 

"If  my  people  seek,  if  my  people  ask,  if  my  people 
knock  they  shall  find.  They  shall  see — to  them  will 
the  door  be  opened." 

The  promise  is  made  to  the  specific  one — to  the 
obedient,  and  God  knows  better  than  to  answer  some 
prayers  that  some  people  offer.  I  know  of  cases  where 
they  seem  to  be  praying  for  revivals.  They  ask  for 
things,  and  if  the  Lord  answered  their  prayers  they 
wouldn't  know  what  to  do  with  the  things  when  they 
get  them.  It  would  be  moral  and  spiritual  suicide  for 
the  Lord  to  answer  some  prayers. 

At  a  revival  meeting,  if  you  were  to  pick  out  some 
brother  or  some  sister — church  members — and  say,  "I 
want  you  to  speak  to  this  woman  or  this  man — I  want 
you  to  bring  them  to  Christ" — the  one  you  had  chosen 
would  say,  I  will  get  Brother  So-and-so  or  I  will  call 
Sister  So-and-so  to  do  it.  Yet  they  are  church  mem- 
bers. 

I  tell  you  what  I  have  discovered.  It  is  easier  to 
preach  to  a  thousand  than  to  talk  to  one  person  about 
Jesus.  But  what  is  the  good  of  a  sermon  if  we  cannot 
direct  it  to  the  salvation  of  an  individual  ? 

Some  of  the  mightiest  things  in  the  New  Testament 
were  said  by  Jesus  Christ  to  one  person.  You  and  I 
must  appeal  to  the  individual. 

The  promise  is  made  to  "my  people."  Do  you  really 
belong  to  God  ?  Where  do  you  stand  now  ?  I  know 
there  was  a  time  when  you  gave  yourself  to  Him — 
when  you  were  His.    But  where  do  you  stand  now  ? 

There  are  many  people  labelled  God's  who  don't 
belong  to  Him  at  all. 

The  promise  is  made  to  "my  people."     It  is  my 


14  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

people  and  God  knows  who  are  His.  *'The  Lord 
knoweth  them  that  are  His." 

If  you  will  listen  to  me,  and  there  is  any  doubt  in 
your  soul  as  to  your  spiritual  condition,  I  will  ask  you 
to  act  promptly — to  act  to-day.  Get  right — get  right 
so  that  you  can  help  others,  so  that  everybody  will 
know  that  when  you  say,  ^Tm  the  Lord's  and  He  is 
mine,"  they  will  feel  that  it  is  true,  and  they  will  know 
it. 

If  you  are  right  with  God,  you  can't  help  knowing 
it.  If  you  do  not  feel  it,  something  is  wrong — some- 
thing is  wrong  with  you.  When  you  get  near  a  rose 
you  know ;  when  you  get  near  a  violet  bed,  you  know ; 
when  the  world  is  flooded  with  the  glory  and  mag- 
nificence of  God,  you  know. 

You  can't  come  in  contact  with  a  changed  life,  a 
life  that  is  Christ-like,  without  knowing  it.  You  can't 
hide  these  things  any  more  than  you  can  stop  the  tide 
of  the  sea  with  an  umbrella. 

When  God  saves  you,  there  is  happiness,  and  people 
know  it.  If  you  really  and  truly  know  that  you  be- 
long to  God,  somebody  else  will  get  the  blessings. 

When  I  was  a  boy  I  heard  a  man  talk  about  vessels 
of  honour.  I  didn't  know  what  a  vessel  was.  I  had 
never  seen  one,  but  I  got  the  idea  that  a  vessel  was 
to  hold  something.  And  I  decided  that  I  wasn't  a 
very  big  vessel.  I  couldn't  read — I  couldn't  write,  I 
was  only  a  poor  Gipsy  boy — I  hadn't  been  to  school. 
"What  am  I?"  I  asked  myself;  and  I  thought,  I  may 
not  be  a  very  big  vessel  and  cannot  hold  very  much, 
but  if  my  vessel  is  small,  and  I  keep  under  the  supply, 
I  can  overflow^  a  lot,  and  we  can  overflow  with  the 


MY  PEOPLE  SHALL  BE  CALLED  BY  MY  NAME    15 

glory  of  God — overflow  until  from  us  will  stream 
channels  of  blessing. 

It  is/'my  people."  It  is  not  the  disobedient.  It  is 
not  the  crowds  that  are  ever  seeking  pleasure.  It  is 
not  the  people  who  are  not  working  with  God.  It  is 
the  people  who  are  living  with  God — the  people  who 
are  standing  up  for  Jesus. 

"My  people" — "If  a  man  love  me,  my  Father  will 
love  him  and  I  will  love  him  and  we  will  come  and 
make  our  abode  with  him."  It  is  ''my  people" — the 
people  who  have  God's  love  in  them  will  show  it. 

I  will  tell  you  something — the  people  in  the  churches 
to-day  who  love  God  with  all  their  hearts,  and  want 
God,  and  are  anxious  for  this  city  to  be  saved  by  God, 
will  stand  out  more  conspicuously  a  month  hence  than 
they  do  to-day  as  followers  of  God. 

There  are  moments  when  my  Gipsy  heart  cries  out 
for  the  woods — there  is  still  something  of  the  wild- 
ness  of  my  youth  left  in  me — and  I  am  glad  of  it.  If 
I  were  to  be  born  again,  I  would  want  to  be  born  a 
Gipsy. 

I  have  stood  in  the  woods  in  Spring — in  the  month 
of  April.  I  have  seen  the  primroses,  the  hawthorn, 
the  fern,  the  green  lush  grass — standing  in  it  up  to 
my  knees.  I  have  smelled  the  perfume  of  the  flowers 
— ^perfume  that  w^ould  make  you  think  it  had  been 
wafted  by  the  wings  of  angels,  from  the  hills  of 
Paradise. 

Once  as  I  stood  thus  I  saw  an  old  trunk.  Not  a 
branch  remained  on  it.  The  limbs  had  all  rotted  off. 
It  was  not  even  covered  with  ivy.  There  it  was  in 
the  midst  of  this  beautiful  Spring's  bridal  bouquet; — : 


16  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

barren  and  ugly.  And  I  thought  I  heard  that  old 
trunk  say,  "I  don't  believe  in  Spring."  And  I  an- 
swered, *'No,  poor  thing,  you  are  too  dead  to  believe 
in  anything." 

There  are  people  in  our  churches  who  are  like  this 
old  trunk.  Their  lives  are  barren — their  souls  are 
stripped  of  brotherly  love,  and  of  kindness.  But  they 
are  not  ''my  people." 

"My  people"  are  standing  out  for  Jesus.  "My  peo- 
ple" will  pray  and  work.  "My  people"  will  come  forth 
as  an  army  with  banners  streaming  for  righteousness. 
The  dead  crowds  will  stand  conspicuous  without  any 
leaves. 

Which  crowd  do  you  belong  to? 

"My  people."  If  "my  people"  seek  Me  they  shall 
find  Me  and  if  they  pray  according  to  the  conditions 
laid  down  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  honestly  meet 
those  conditions,  then  the  windows  of  Heaven  shall  be 
opened  and  I  will  pour  out  such  blessings  that  there 
shall  not  be  room  to  contain  them. 


II 

IF  YE  ABIDE  IN  ME 

John  15 : 7. — "If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you, 
ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto 
you." 

What  is  meant  by  the  word  "obey^'  ?  And  what  is 
the  meaning  of  "abide"?  Listen:  "If  you  keep  My 
commandments,  ye  shall  abide  in  Me  even  as  I  have 
kept  My  Father's  commandments  and  abide  in  Him'* — 
so  that  to  abide  in  the  love  of  God  is  to  be  obedient  to 
His  word. 

Lots  of  people  pray  selfishly,  and  this  is  the  reason 
that  prayers  are  unanswered.  You  who  want  your 
prayers  answered  must  do  as  Jesus  did — say  as  He  said, 
**If  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  Me :  neverthe- 
less, not  My  will  but  Thine  be  done."  You  must  be 
willing,  if  necessary,  to  sip  the  bitter  cup  to  the  last 
drop. 

If  a  man  abides  by  the  word  of  God  and  if  he  obey 
the  will  of  God  which  he  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus 
before  the  foundation  of  the  World,  then  he  may  ask 
what  he  will  and  God  says.  It  shall  be  done.  When  a 
man — you  have  never  seen  this,  for  it  is  done  only  in 
private,  and  only  the  eye  of  God  witnesses — opens  his 
heart  to  his  creator,  and  sobs  out  in  solitude  the  bur- 
den of  his  soul,  which  he  makes  known  neither  to  his 

17 


18  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

wife  or  closest  friend,  or  any  other,  and  which  God — 
and  only  God — can  interpret,  that  is  prayer. 

''Ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  given." 
I  doubt  not  but  that  in  your  prayer  services  you  have 
some  whose  prayers  God  will  hardly  recognise  as 
such.    Rather  will  He  know  them  as  ''much  speaking." 

Selfishness  is  an  element  which  should  be  foreign  to 
our  prayers.  We  pray  that  the  kingdom  of  God  may 
extend  and  reach  out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth;  we 
pray  that  our  neighbour  may  be  rel'eved  of  the  dif- 
ficulties which  bow  him  down;  we  pray  in  the  inter- 
ests of  others,  and  if  we  do  this  shall  not  God  take 
care  of  our  own  wants  as  well  ? 

You  want  to  get  into  the  heart  of  God,  and  then 
you  can  pray.  If  you  will  let  me  hear  a  man  pray  in 
public,  I  can  tell  you  in  two  minutes  whether  he  is 
accustomed  to  praying  in  private.  There  is  something 
about  the  prayer  of  a  man  who  is  used  to  praying  in 
private  that  cannot  be  mistaken. 

He  knows — he  approaches  God  with  authority,  with 
dignity.  You  may  not  be  able  to  define  it  but  you 
know  it  is  there,  and  when  it  is  absent  you  know. 

If  a  man  abides  in  God  and  His  words  abide  in 
him,  he  may  ask  what  he  will  and  it  will  be  done  unto 
him. 

If  you  abide  in  Him,  call  upon  Him,  and  ask  for 
something,  let  Him  do  it;  He  knows  how  to  do  it. 
If  we  pray  for  the  right  things.  He  will  know  how  to 
give  you  the  gifts  you  ask. 

If  you  haven't  received,  you  haven't  known  how  to 
ask,  or  you  do  not  abide  in  Him.  Some  people  let 
God  do  their  askinsr  for  them. 


IF  YE  ABIDE  IN  ME  19 

Once  when  I  was  preaching  in  an  English  city — in 
Birmingham — before  an  audience  of  three  thousand  or 
four  thousand  people,  I  told  them  that  they  would  not 
let  the  Lord  do  anything  for  them.  I  told  them  to 
bow  their  heads  just  then  and  to  ask  God  to  do  some- 
thing for  them.  An  old  grandmother  who  had  an 
income  of  $1.75  per  week  sat  in  the  front  of  the  audi- 
ence. She  lived  in  one  little  room.  Her  son  was  in 
jail.  She  was  taking  care  of  her  son's  little  boy,  Jack. 
The  little  boy's  mother  w^as  dead. 

Little  Jack  needed  a  pair  of  shoes.  The  old  grand- 
mother had  seen  his  little  toes  coming  through  the 
only  pair  of  shoes  he  had,  and  she  had  no  money  with 
which  to  buy  another  pair.  And  she  prayed,  "O, 
blessed  Jesus,  a  pair  of  shoes  for  Jack." 

When  Jack  w^ent  to  school  the  next  morning  the 
schoolmaster  was  waiting  for  him,  and  said:  "J^^^' 
come  here,"  and  took  him  into  his  office.  He  had  him 
try  on  a  pair  of  shoes.  Lie  had  seen  Jack's  little  toes 
coming  through  the  old  shoes  he  wore,  the  day  be- 
fore, and  had  ordered  five  or  six  pairs  of  shoes  on 
approval. 

When  Jack  went  home  with  his  new  shoes,  can  you 
imagine  the  joy  of  his  old  granny — can  you  imagine 
it? 

Let  the  critics  say  what  they  may,  but  I  believe  that 
not  only  does  God  answer  our  prayers  after  we  have 
prayed  them,  He  sometimes  anticipates  them.  ''Be- 
fore ye  call,  I  will  answer,  and  while  ye  are  yet  speak- 
ing, I  will  hear." 

Open  your  hearts  and  tell  God  you  want  something. 
He  is  in  a  delightful  humour.     ''Ask  and  ye  siiall  re- 


20  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

ceive,  seek  and  ye  shall  find,  knock  and  it  shall  be 
opened  unto  you." 

I  have  a  mighty  faith  in  God  that  will  laugh  at 
impossibilities — those  who  have  that  can  march  up  to 
God  with  authority. 

When  you  are  abiding  in  Christ,  you  can  claim  the 
things  that  belong  to  Christ.  When  you  belong  to  a 
family,  you  don't  ask  if  you  can  have  a  thing,  you 
just  take  it. 

When  my  boys  came  home  from  school  and  sat  at 
the  table,  they  didn't  ask  if  they  could  have  some 
bread, — they  said,  *Tlease  pass  it  up."  At  our  own 
tables  we  don't  ask  if  we  may  have  something,  we  just 
take  it. 

If  you  abide  in  the  love  of  the  Father,  whatever 
belongs  to  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  yours.  You  are 
a  member  of  the  family.     Everything  belongs  to  you. 

You  must  do  the  abiding,  then  you  can  ask  what 
you  will. 

We  don't  put  God  to  the  test. 

Once  I  was  preaching  in  Lincoln,  Eng. — it  was  my 
first  campaign  in  the  twentieth  century.  The  building 
was  crowded.  At  that  service  was  a  woman — a  nom- 
inal church  member — and  her  husband,  who  was  a 
blasphemer.  He  held  a  position  of  trust  on  the  Great 
Northern  Railroad  Company  in  the  signal  box  at  an 
important  junction. 

As  they  were  going  home  from  the  meeting  that 
night,  the  wife  spoke  to  him,  calling  him  by  his  second 
name,  "What  do  you  think  of  him,  Holt?" 

"Think  of  him?"  he  answered.  "If  that  man  is 
right,  I  am  wrong.    That's  what  I  think  of  him.    Of 


IF  YE  ABIDE  IN  ME  21 

course,  I  am  not  a  church  member.  But  you  are  and 
I  have  lived  with  you." 

She  answered  that  she  knew  she  was  a  member  of 
the  church,  but  she  knew  that  she  was  not  a  child  of 
God.  And  some  of  you  will  find  that  out  some  of 
these  days.  May  God  help  you  to  be  honest  when  you 
have  found  it  out. 

Then  they  went  home  to  tea.  It  was  a  quiet  tea, 
even  though  they  were  surrounded  by  their  six  sons, 
one  daughter  and  a  motherless  youth  of  seventeen 
who  made  his  home  with  them. 

The  husband  would  not  go  to  the  service  that  night 
because  he  would  have  had  to  go  in  his  uniform — he 
went  on  duty  at  nine  o'clock. 

That  night  the  wife  went  to  the  meeting  with  two 
of  her  sons.  They  were  converted.  Then  every  night 
of  the  week  some  member  of  her  family  was  con- 
verted, until  at  the  end  of  the  week  her  eldest  son 
and  her  husband  were  the  only  unconverted  ones. 
That  night  was  my  night  of  rest,  but  a  prayer  and 
song  service  was  being  held  in  the  church.  The  wife 
went  to  the  meeting  alone.  I  crept  in  at  the  back  to 
watch  the  service.     The  leader  asked  for  testimonies. 

Holding  a  little  Bible  above  her  head,  the  wife  stood 
and  told  her  story.     She  said : 

''God  has  done  great  things  for  me  this  week.  He 
has  saved  me,  five  of  my  boys,  and  a  motherless  youth 
V\^ho  lives  with  me.  To-morrow  God  will  save  my 
husband  and  my  first-born.  God  will  do  it  to-morrow. 
If  He  does  not  save  my  husband  to-morrow,  this 
Bible  is  not  true." 

This  brought  me  to  my  feet  and  I  asked  the  people 


22  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

to  join  me  in  prayer  for  that  husband  and  boy  that 
God  might  save  them  both.  The  people  fell  on  their 
knees — I  can  hear  the  thud  of  the  people's  knees  as 
they  fell  on  the  floor  even  now — and  prayed  for  that 
husband. 

The  next  morning  v^hen  the  husband  came  home 
from  work,  he  found  that  his  wife  had  overslept. 
When  he  called  to  her  and  awakened  her  she  expected 
to  be  cursed  for  not  being  up.  Instead,  the  husband 
built  a  fire,  quietly  ate  the  breakfast  she  prepared  for 
him,  and  said  he  was  going  to  sleep  all  he  could  that 
morning,  so  he  could  go  to  the  Gipsy  Smith  meeting 
twice  that  day. 

Then  the  wife  told  him  of  the  prayers  that  had  been 
offered  for  him  and  told  him  it  was  the  night  before. 
''At  what  time?"  he  asked.  ''About  half  past  eight," 
she  replied.  Then  he  told  her  that  the  tracks  at  that 
time  being  clear,  he  had  knelt  and  asked  God  to  save 
him.  "And  I  was  converted  then,"  he  answered. 
"God  saved  me  last  night." 

"Whatsoever  ye  ask  in  my  name  shall  be  done." 

God's  promises  will  be  fulfilled  and  God  shall  be 
glorified.     Amen ! 


Ill 

I  AM  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD 

John  10:13,14. — "I  am  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  know  my 
sheep,  and  am  known  of  mine  .  .  . 

[The  hireling]   fleeth  because  he  is  a  hireling,  and 
careth  not  for  the  sheep." 

Jesus  spoke  of  the  hirelings  because  He  knew  their 
possibility,  just  as  He  knew  the  possibility  of  the  goats, 
and  of  the  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,  just  as  He  knew 
that  the  sham  and  fraud  would  creep  in  with  a  crowd 
of  sheep.  So  He  knew  that  the  fraud  and  sham  would 
creep  in  with  the  faithful  shepherd,  just  as  He  knew 
that  one  of  His  own  chosen  twelve  would  betray  Him, 
He  knew  that  through  all  the  history  of  the  world  and 
of  the  Church. 

Ask  yourself  this  question:  Am  I  one  of  the  sheep? 
Do  I  know  His  voice?  Is  there  the  intimacy,  the 
glorious  intimacy  of  blessed  fellowship,  between  my 
heart  and  that  of  my  Shepherd?  Is  there  no  shadow, 
no  doubt,  no  uncertainty? 

Is  my  soul  on  the  alert?  Do  I  hear  the  call  of  the 
Shepherd  ?  When  I  go  forth,  does  He  lead  me  in  the 
green  pastures  and  beside  the  still  waters  ?  Is  my  soul 
restored  ? 

''My  sheep  hear  My  voice  and  they  follow  Me,"  but 
they  do  not  know  the  voice  of  the  stranger,  and  they 
will  not  follow  the  voice  of  the  stranger.  They  will 
not  be  deceived.  They  know  Me,  and  I  know  My 
people. 

23 


24  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

Don't  be  deceived  when  the  wolf  comes  around  in 
sheep's  clothing.  If  there  were  no  sheep,  he  wouldn't 
do  that.  He  does  it  because  there  are  sheep.  Don't 
be  surprised  if  you  get  a  rude  shock  by  a  hireling.  He 
will  be  there. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  an  under-shepherd.  The 
greatest  honour  Heaven  can  bestow  is  to  make  you  a 
partner  with  God — a  helper  in  the  winning  of  souls. 

I  have  a  notion  that  the  saving  of  one  soul  is  such 
a  stupendous  thing  that  God  cannot  trust  it  to  one 
person.  It  takes  a  great  many  to  do  it.  If  you  were 
to  talk  to  a  man  who  had  been  saved  and  ask  him, 
"What  made  you  become  a  Christian?  What  led  you 
into  righteousness  ?"  there  would  be  a  vast  number  of 
things  that  bore  on  the  change  in  his  life. 

It  would  not  be  one  man,  one  woman,  but  a  hundred 
forces,  a  hundred  influences  that  God  brought  to  bear 
on  his  soul. 

I  want  to  say  to  every  one  who  would  serve  in 
saving  a  soul,  when  God  sends  out  His  laurels.  He 
will  know  your  name,  He  will  know  where  you  live — 
He  won't  forget  your  address.  You  will  get  your 
reward.  A  man  that  brings  a  soul  to  God  is  going  to 
shine  as  the  stars  forever  and  ever. 

I  once  knew  a  saintly  man  in  England — an  old  man 
who  had  been  a  member  of  Parliament  for  years.  I 
saw  him  just  before  he  died,  and  he  said  to  me,  *'Gipsy 
Smith,  do  you  know,  if  I  could  live  my  life  over 
again,  I  would  work  directly  for  the  spiritual  good 
instead  of  the  temporal  good  of  people." 

I  told  him  that  he  couldn't  give  a  cup  of  cold  water 
in  the  name  of  a  disciple  and  lose  his  reward.     I  told 


I  AM  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD  25 

him  also  that  in  clothing  the  naked  and  visiting  the 
sick  and  feeding  the  hungry,  Jesus  said,  ''Ye  do  it 
unto  me."  I  told  him  that  if  he  shook  hands  with  a 
man  in  a  "God  bless  you"  spirit,  he  was  uplifting 
some  one.  You  can't  dry  the  tear  of  a  little  child 
without  helping  the  angels  to  kiss  a  tear  into  a  jewel, 
without  changing  a  sigh  into  a  song. 

You  can't  tear  up  an  old  dress  and  make  a  dress 
for  a  motherless  babe  without  putting  on  Him  a  seam- 
less robe.  You  cannot  share  a  crust  with  some  one 
who  is  hungry  without  doing  good.  ''I  was  hungry 
and  you  fed  me."  You  cannot  pray  at  the  bedside  of 
some  one  who  is  sick  without  doing  good.  ''I  was 
sick  and  ye  visited  me."  That  is  what  I  told  the  old 
man.  And  he  replied,  ''I  know  that  is  all  true.  In 
serving  the  temporal  needs,  I  have  done  good  so  far, 
and  I  believe  that  those  who  work  for  the  temporal 
good  of  the  world  will  be  allowed  to  serve  God  in  His 
temple,  but  those  who  turn  many  to  righteousness 
will  shine  as  the  stars  forever  and  ever,  and  I  would 
rather  be  a  shiner  than  a  server";  and  the  old  man  was 
right. 

Every  soul  saved  in  this  campaign  is  the  result  of 
somebody's — some  thinking  man's  or  woman's — pray- 
ing in  this  city;  the  fruits  of  the  work  of  many  per- 
haps who  have  gone  to  Heaven  and  never  saw  the  re- 
sult of  their  labours.  Forget  not  in  these  days  to 
make  your  appeals  to  the  unsaved,  powerful  and  per- 
sonal. Every  soul  won  for  Jesus  is  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  through  God's  people  here  on  earth. 

And  do  not  look  at  the  unfaithful  ministers  when 
you  are  seeking  the  faithful.     Do  not  emphasise  the 


26  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

wolf  when  you  ought  to  emphasise  the  sheep.  God 
has  sheep  and  shepherds  who  are  faithful.  Their 
faithfulness  will  be  fruitful. 

Don't  see  only  your  side  of  the  question.  Take  the 
beam  out  of  your  own  eye  before  you  try  to  remove 
the  mote  from  the  eye  of  your  brother.  Be  honest 
with  yourself  in  these  days.  Have  you  any  of  the 
wolf  about  you?  Some  of  you  look  like  wolves  when 
you  show  your  teeth.  Just  let  Jesus  make  you  what 
he  wants  to  make  you  during  these  days. 

^'My  sheep  hear  my  voice  and  follow  me" — are  you 
doing  that?  Are  you  following  Jesus?  *'I  am  come 
that  they  might  have  life  and  have  it  more  abun- 
dantly." Oh,  the  exceeding  abundance,  the  overflow- 
ing, the  boundless,  the  limitless,  the  resourceful,  the 
infinite  abundance! 

I  pray  you  may  be  faithful,  I  pray  you  may  be  loyal. 
Follow  where  He  leads.  Give  unto  God  glory  and 
listen  to  Him.  He  may  speak  in  unexpected  ways; 
He  may  speak  in  unlikely  places.  Listen  for  His 
voice — and  obey. 

You  know,  very  often,  sheep  are  helped  to  their 
proper  path,  not  by  the  shepherd  at  all,  but  by  aid 
from  an  unexpected  source. 

Some  years  ago,  I  took  my  summer  holidays  on  a 
farm.  You  farmers  know  that  when  a  sheep  gets 
flat  on  his  back  he  cannot  get  up  again  without  aid. 
If  he  is  not  helped  up,  he  will  die.  I  have  often  gone 
around  the  farm  and  helped  sheep  to  their  feet,  which 
I  found  helpless  in  this  condition. 

If  a  man  gets  on  his  back,  will  he  not  die,  if  he  is 
not  helped  up  ?    You  say  yes.    Well,  it  is  your  business 


I  AM  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD  27 

and  mine  to  help  him  up.  Shepherds  do  that.  But  the 
hireling?  The  hireling  goes  away  and  leaves  him. 
The  hireling  does  not  care  for  the  sheep.  He  is  a 
hireling. 

That  is  not  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  The  shepherd 
cares  for  his  sheep,  he  saves  the  sheep.  The  Good 
Shepherd  guards  the  sheep  tenderly  and  faithfully; 
he  leaves  the  ninety-nine  which  are  safe  and  goes  out 
into  the  storm  to  seek  and  save  the  one  that  is  lost. 

My  brethren,  there  are  lots  of  people  out  of  the 
Church,  who  would  have  been  in,  if  you  had  looked 
after  them,  if  you  had  spoken  a  good  word  and  ex- 
tended to  them  your  friendship.  You  know  people 
who  are  lost  to  the  Church  for  the  want  of  looking 
after.  Is  that  true?  Well,  why  don't  you  look  after 
them? 

I  am  a  man,  a  very  hungry  man.  I  want,  oh,  so 
much,  to  be  loved.  I  could  not  exist  if  some  one  did 
not  love  me.  For  fifteen  years  out  of  twenty  I  have 
been  separated  from  my  family.  But  it  was  in  answer 
to  the  call  of  God.  I  have  been  absent  in  trying  to 
follow  the  path  where  the  Shepherd  has  led.  I  would 
give  the  world  for  the  touch  of  a  hand,  for  the  sound 
of  a  voice  which  I  cannot  hear.  God  has  made  us  so. 
People  outside  the  Church  would  be  inside  if  you 
people  had  loved  them. 

Jesus  loved  people,  and  you  and  I  are  here  to  repre- 
sent Him,  and  we  shall  save  those,  as  we  love  them. 

If  you  believe  these  things,  let  God's  love  flow.  If 
God  puts  new  life  in  your  soul,  let  that  life  flow  out. 
There  are  many  people  all  around  you  with  broken 
hearts.     Let  them  feel  your  love. 


28  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

In  my  own  country  there  is  a  great  sadness.  One 
million  of  our  boys  were  laid  under  the  sod.  There 
were  two  million  more  of  casualties.  Our  hospitals 
are  yet  filled  with  the  wounded  and  the  helpless. 

I  was  riding  in  on  a  train  from  a  visit  to  the  coun- 
try. A  gentleman  got  in  the  train  at  the  same  plat- 
form I  did.  Two  or  three  stations  further  on,  a  lady 
got  in  whom  I  soon  discovered  was  his  wife.  There 
was  inexpressible  grief  written  on  their  faces  when 
they  met.  Their  boy,  I  learned,  was  in  a  hospital 
suffering  from  wounds  received  in  the  war.  He  was 
horribly  cut  up,  torn  to  pieces,  mangled. 

She  sat  there  with  her  poor  mother-heart  bleeding. 
Presently  she  couldn't  stand  the  suspense  any  longer. 

"Father,  is  there  any  news?"  she  said.  He  an- 
swered one  word,  "Yes,"  and  then  another,  "Gone." 

He  took  the  telegram  from  his  pocket  and  passed 
it  to  her. 

"Don't  show  me,"  she  cried.    "I  can't  bear  it." 

The  poor  mother  sat  and  sobbed  her  heart  away  in 
her  corner.  It  seemed  as  if  the  flood-gates  had  been 
opened,  as  if  her  tears  would  never  cease. 

"Mother,  I  am  a  stranger  to  you,"  I  said.  "But 
there  is  One  who  sees  your  sorrow  and  understands. 
Jesus  understands.  He  sees  every  tear  you  shed.  He 
is  the  Comforter." 

"Oh,  thank  you  for  that  word,"  she  sobbed. 

People  all  about  you  want  the  same  words  of  com- 
fort. Act  the  shepherd  in  God's  name;  the  world 
wants  shepherds.  Go  forth,  tend  His  sheep,  love 
and  help.  When  thou  art  converted,  tend  my  sheep, 
look  after  my  sheep.    Oh,  Jesus  help  you  to  do  it. 


IV 

LOVE 

I  Cor.  13 :  I. — "Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and 
of  angels,  and  have  not  love,  I  am  become  as  sound- 
ing brass,  or  a  tinkling  cymbal." 

John  said:  He  that  dwelleth  in  love,  dwelleth  in 
God.  Paul  said:  If  ye  have  not  love,  ye  are  as  sound- 
ing brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal — or  a  ''clanging  cym- 
bal'* the  later  translators  have  put  it. 

If  you  have  not  love,  you  have  not  God.  If  you 
have  God,  you  are  lovely,  you  will  be  lovable,  you  will 
love. 

"Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of 
angels,  and  have  not  love,  I  am  become  as  sounding 
brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal." 

"And  though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  under- 
stand all  mysteries,  and  all  knowledge;  and  though  I 
have  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains,  and 
have  not  love,  I  am  nothing." 

"And  though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor, 
and  though  I  give  my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have 
not  love,  it  profiteth  me  nothing." 

Where  are  you?  God  is  love.  L-o-v-e — and  love, 
as  Henry  Drummond,  that  saintly  professor-evan- 
gelist, the  colleague  of  Moody,  said,  "Love  is  the  great- 
est thing  in  the  world." 


80  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

Are  you  such  a  monstrosity  as  a  professing  Chris- 
tian without  love?  Do  you  talk  about  religion  like  a 
dog  over  a  bone  ?  Haven't  you  heard  people  talk  that 
v^ay,  with  just  that  kind  of  a  snarl  about  them? 

Those  who  dwell  in  God  dwell  in  love.  Love  has 
a  language  all  her  own.  She  speaks  when  there  is  no 
articulation;  she  speaks  when  there  is  no  vocabulary; 
she  speaks  when  language  is  silent.  Love  sings;  love 
breathes;  love  looks;  love  gives — gives  all  and  longs 
for  more  to  give. 

Is  the  love  of  God  in  your  heart?  Are  you  a 
lovely  Christian? 

Does  the  love  of  God  shine  in  your  face?  Does  it 
sparkle  in  your  eyes?  Does  it  grace  your  counte- 
nance ? 

You  know  the  world  is  dying  for  want  of  more 
love.  Don't  be  afraid  of  spoiling  some  one  with  love. 
More  people  die  for  lack  of  a  little  spoiling  than  of 
too  much  of  it.  I  want  more  of  it  myself.  I  won't 
lie  about  it.  I  won't  say  I  don't.  I  say  I  could  da 
with  a  lot  more  love.  There  isn't  a  heart  on  earth 
that  doesn't  want  more  love. 

What  we  need  is  to  be  so  drenched  with  the  love  of 
God  that  it  would  cover  everybody. 

Wouldn't  it  make  a  difference  if  there  was  more  love 
in  your  home? 

Love  is  a  dynamo,  the  force  that  makes  everything 
a  success  in  the  world.  Love  is  the  mighty  river  that 
leads  to  victory. 

You  know  when  I  am  at  home,  I  live  in  Cambridge, 
that  old  centre  of  learning  and  culture — the  sister  city 
to  Oxford.    You  know  they  boast  of  age.     Some  o£ 


LOVE  31 

it  is  musty,  it  is  so  old.  There  are  grass  lawns  there 
a  thousand  years  old;  imagine  it,  lawns  a  thousand 
years  old. 

They  think  they  know  everything.  And  some  of 
you  have  just  the  same  fever.  You  are  positively  so 
clever  that  the  Lord  can't  teach  you  anything. 

And  the  dons  there  are  in  Cambridge!  A  live 
don  is  a  live  Cambridge  or  Oxford  professor.  He  is, 
as  you  Americans  would  express  it,  ''some  person." 
I  can  just  picture  him  as  he  walks  along  in  his  mortar 
board  and  gown,  with  his  books  under  his  arm.  He 
is  positively  some  person.  And  these  dons  think  they 
know  everything  and  if  there  is  anything  they  don't 
know,  they  don't  consider  that  it  is  worth  knowing. 

Why  didn't  God  choose  one  of  these  to  be  a 
preacher?  But  He  went  to  a  gipsy  tent  and  found  a 
little  gipsy  boy  there — a  little  boy  who  never  went  to 
school  in  his  life  and  had  never  studied  about  religion 
out  of  books.  But  he  had  the  love  of  Jesus,  the  love 
of  God  that  passeth  knowledge. 

I  will  put  that  gipsy  boy  beside  the  professors  who 
have  not  been  born  again,  and  where  spiritual  things 
are  concerned,  he  will  teach  the  professors. 

Explain  it — the  Bible  explains  it.  The  natural  man 
does  not  understand  the  things  of  God.  They  are 
foolishness  to  him. 

The  piano  is  musically  understood.  A  daffodil  is 
botanically  understood.  A  star — well — you  must  be 
an  astronomer  if  you  are  to  understand  stars.  If  you 
want  to  understand  the  rocks,  you  must  be  a  geologist. 

Oh,  the  great  love  of  God. 

Get  on  your  knees;  kneel  like  the  poor  sinner  you 


32  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

are.  There  is  no  other  way.  You  can't  talk  to  God 
on  stilts ;  get  down  off  of  them.  Get  out  of  your  auto- 
mobile and  get  down  on  your  knees.  Come  to  God 
like  a  humble  sinner;  a  sinner  who  happens  to  own 
an  automobile. 

And,  believe  me,  the  love  of  God  is  understood  not 
by  the  schools,  or  only  by  the  theologians,  but  by  the 
believing,  obedient  heart. 

I  was  holding  a  revival  in  Kansas  City,  and  during 
the  three  weeks  it  was  claimed  that  more  people  listened 
to  the  gospel  in  that  city  at  that  time  than  in  any  city 
of  the  world  during  the  Christian  era.  Thousands  were 
turned  away  each  day. 

As  I  was  coming  out  of  one  of  the  services,  I  went 
into  a  little  room  behind  the  rostrum,  where  I  usually 
put  on  my  coat  and  wait  for  a  little  while  to  cool 
off  before  going  outside.  An  old  preacher  followed 
me  into  the  room.  He  was  a  venerable  man  and  his 
hair  was  white.  He  stood  behind  my  chair  and  put 
his  hands  on  my  head.  I  bent  forward  in  silence.  I 
thought  he  was  going  to  bless  me.  But  instead  of 
blessing  me,  he  was  feeling  my  head. 

"Are  you  a  phrenologist?"  I  said. 

"No,"  he  answered,  "I  am  feeling  for  the  secret  of 
your  success." 

"Well,  brother,"  I  said,  "you  are  too  high.  The 
secret  of  my  success  lies  in  my  heart." 

Love  is  a  matter  of  the  heart.  Love  is  understood 
by  the  heart,  not  by  the  brain.  If  you  want  to  know 
the  love  of  God,  get  down  before  Him  and  open  your 
heart.  If  your  heart  is  ugly,  show  Him  the  truth. 
He  will  make  it  beautiful  for  you. 


LOVE  33 

The  way  some  of  you  act  shows  your  hearts  are 
ugly. 

'The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things  and  is  des- 
perately wicked." 

God  loves  you — nobody  is  left  out  of  God's  abundant 
love.  You  may  close  your  eyes  now,  if  you  will, 
and  lay  your  hand  on  your  heart  and  say,  "He  loved 
me  and  gave  Himself  for  me."  Say  that  over  a  few 
times  until  you  realise  you  are  getting  close  to  the  Cre- 
ator. He  loves  me;  He  gave  Himself  for  me.  And 
then  if  you  love  Him,  you  will  show  your  love  for 
Him;  you  can't  help  it.  If  the  love  of  God  fills  your 
heart,  that  love  will  flow  out.  ''H  a  man  love  Me,  he 
will  keep  my  words."  It  is  up  to  you  to  prove  your 
love.  Prove  it  by  beautiful  acts,  by  devoted  service 
and  sacrifice.     Show  it  to  everybody. 

I  want  to  tell  you  a  little  story.  Many  years  ago 
my  two  boys,  small  then,  were  going  to  school. 

Both  of  them  are  now  preachers.  One  is  in  this 
country,  an  American  citizen,  doing  evangelistic  work, 
the  other  son  is  in  England,  a  minister. 

Well — my  two  boys,  when  they  were  young,  were 
sent  to  school.  They  had  what  I  didn't.  I  gave  them 
the  opportunity  to  get  what  I  missed  in  my  childhood. 
One  day  they  came  home  unusually  early  for  lunch. 
They  came  at  1 1 130,  when  they  should  not  have  been 
at  home  until  12:30.  They  had  not  been  to  school, 
I  knew.  They  had  played,  as  you  say  in  America, 
hooky.  In  England,  we  call  it  playing  truant.  I  was 
a  very  young  father.  My  first  boy  was  born  before 
I  was  twenty-one.  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  do  something 
in  the  matter.     I  took  my  watch  out  and  said,  "Boys, 


34>  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

why  are  you  home  so  soon?    Where  have  you  been?" 

"We  have  been  playing,"  they  said. 

"Yes,  playing  truant." 

They  admitted  it. 

"I  have  never  played  truant  in  my  life,"  I  said. 

"You  never  went  to  school,"  the  elder  boy  said. 

"No,"  I  said,  "I  did  not.  I  did  not  have  your 
chance.  My  not  having  attended  school  was  a  mis- 
fortune; your  not  having  attended  is  a  sin." 

I  knew  they  must  be  punished,  but  I  didn^t  know 
how  to  go  about  it.  I  was  a  very  young  and  inexperi- 
enced father.  I  was  up  against  it,  to  use  one  of  your 
American  "classic"  phrases.  I  had  to  do  some- 
thing. I  shrank  from  the  idea  of  punishing  them. 
It  was  harder  for  me  in  truth  than  for  them. 

"You  will  have  to  be  punished,"  I  said.  I  sent  the 
elder  boy  upstairs  to  the  back  room  and  told  him  to 
stay  there  all  day.  Then  I  sent  the  other  boy  to 
another  room,  and  bade  him  do  likewise. 

"You  will  have  bread  and  water  for  dinner  and  for 
supper  and  nothing  else,"  I  told  them. 

They  trudged  off  upstairs  and  the  thud  of  their 
boots  on  the  steps  was  like  falling  stones  on  my  heart. 
Presently  I  heard  the  elder  boy  walking  around  his 
room  and  singing,  "We'll  work  and  wait  till  Jesus 
comes." 

When  dinner-time  came  I  took  them  up  their  bread 
and  water.    I  couldn't  trust  any  one  else. 

Albany,  the  elder,  ate  his  and  asked  for  more.  Han- 
ley  did  not  touch  his,  and  I  need  not  tell  you  who  are 
parents  that  I  did  not  eat  that  day.  No  food  would 
have  tempted  me.     And  I  cannot  tell  you  how  often 


LOVE  35 

I  climbed  those  stairs  to  see  what  the  boys  were  doing. 
I  could  not  read,  or  write,  or  see  people.  It  was  the 
first  time  In  my  life  that  anything  had  come  between 
my  boys  and  myself.  And  my  young  father-heart  suf- 
fered far  more  than  the  boys.  I  was  punished  most, 
because  Love  suffers. 

At  night-fall  I  was  listening  on  the  landing,  and 
found  Albany  had  entered  Into  rest  and  was  snoring. 
Hanley  could  not  sleep.  He  was  already  penitent. 
Hearing  my  footsteps,  he  called  me :  ''Daddy !  will 
you  forgive  me  just  this  once  and  I  will  never  play 
truant  any  more!"  I  grabbed  him,  bedclothes  and  all, 
and  hugged  him  to  my  heart,  and  tried  to  kiss  back  his 
tears,  and  mine  got  mingled  with  his,  and  I  told  him  It 
was  all  forgiven  and  passed.  Then  he  said,  ''Daddy, 
do  you  love  me  just  as  much  as  before?"  and  I  an- 
swered, "You  know  I  do."  Then  he  asked,  "Are  you 
very  sure  ?"  and  I  answered,  "Yes,  Hanley  dear,  I  am 
very  sure."  Then  the  child  said,  "Take  me  down  to 
supper."  In  plain  English  the  child  meant,  If  you 
love  me,  prove  it. 

Your  Lord  says,  "If  you  love  me,  keep  my  com- 
mandments, and  he  that  hath  my  commandments  and 
keepeth  them,  he  It  Is  that  loveth  me." 

If  a  man  says  he  loves  God,  and  walks  In  darkness, 
he  Is  a  liar  and  the  truth  is  not  in  him.  Walk  In  the 
light,  or  don't  claim  to  be  God's. 

Oh,  love  of  God!  So  dependable,  so  true,  so  con- 
stant, and  so  ever  new.  May  that  be  your  lot  and 
mine.    May  that  be  your  experience  and  mine.    Amen  1 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY 

Col.  1 :  27-28. — "To  whom  God  would  make  known  what  is 
the  riches  of  the  glory  of  this  mystery  among  the 
Gentiles;  which  is  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory: 
Whom  we  preach,  warning  every  man,  and  teaching 
every  man  in  all  wisdom;  that  we  may  present  every 
man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus." 

"Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory  whom  we  preach.*' 
That  is  Paul's  hope.  There  is  no  other.  I  pause 
that  you  may  take  that  in,  because  some  of  you  have 
been  turning  aside  from  Paul's  hope,  God's  hope,  the 
world's  hope,  to  the  manufacturing  of  your  own  hopes, 
and  the  love  you  have  for  your  own  denominational 
reputation. 

Jesus  is  the  ladder  upon  which  this  poor  old  world 
IS  going  to  climb  from  darkness  to  light  and  from  sin 
to  God.  It  is  His  hand  that  will  stretch  down  into 
the  abyss  and  will  lift  broken-hearted  men  and  women 
up  out  of  the  mire,  and  set  their  feet  on  the  rock,  and 
put  a  new  song  into  their  hearts  and  into  their  mouths. 

Jesus  is  the  jewel  for  which  this  vast  universe  is  but 
the  mere  setting.  He  is  the  morning — the  dawn  in 
the  darkness. 

He  is  the  cure  for  the  ills  of  the  world,  the  antidote 
for  the  serpent's  sting.  There  is  no  other;  and  you 
may  search  the  universe  for  something  else  to  assuage 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  37 

the  woe  of  the  world,  to  dry  its  tears,  to  still  its 
storms,  to  calm  its  boisterous  seas,  to  heal  its  broken 
hearts,  to  give  rest  to  every  weary  soul.  Or,  to  use 
Paul's  words,  "He  is  the  hope  of  glory."  And  hope 
for  the  world  cannot  be  found  anywhere  else  but  in 
Jesus  Christ. 

Paul  said,  "Whom  we  preach,"  and  you  know  Paul 
had  tried  the  schools  and  found  the  schools  had  failed. 
Schools  have  it  not;  social  reformers  have  not  the 
cure;  politicians  have  not  the  cure;  quacks  and  nos- 
trums can't  provide  that  for  which  the  soul  longs,  and 
that  which  the  soul  demands  for  deliverance  and 
hope.  Why  spend  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread  ? 
Why  spend  money  for  that  which  satisfieth  not? 

"Harken  diligently  unto  me  and  eat  ye  that  which 
is  good,  and  let  your  soul  delight  itself  in  fatness." 

My  brothers,  my  sisters,  the  hope  of  the  soul  and 
the  hope  of  the  world  to-day  is  Jesus.  If  you  would 
learn  that  you  would  stop  running  after  the  quacks. 

There  are  more  quacks  in  America  to  the  square 
inch  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  I  know;  I 
have  preached  on  five  continents,  and  I  have  seen  more 
of  the  world  than  most  men.     I  know. 

You  will  run  after  anybody  that  will  shout  loud 
enough  instead  of  listening  to  and  obeying  Jesus.  I 
would  rather  listen  to  Jesus  than  to  any  earthly  man — 
and  certainly  than  to  any  earthly  woman. 

The  hope  of  the  world  is  Jesus,  not  environment. 
That  is  a  big  word.  When  you  want  to  say  something 
that  sounds  "tony"  you  say  "environment" — it  has 
an  II  o'clock  sound.  If  anybody  ever  had  a  good 
environment  it  was  Adam.     There  were  no  saloons. 


38  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

There  was  no  jazz.  He  was  in  a  garden,  surrounded 
with  beauty,  with  flowers  and  birds — and  he  fell. 

Environment  isn't  everything.  You  know  you 
can't  cure  a  patient  of  the  smallpox  by  putting  him  into 
clean  sheets.  You  don't  change  the  nature  of  a  pig 
by  putting  him  in  the  parlour.  I  know  which  would 
be  the  quickest  to  change,  and  it  would  not  be  the  pig. 

Educationalists — I  know  what  they  are  advocating 
— educate — educate — educate.  Jesus  Christ  on  Cal- 
vary is  saying,  Regenerate — regenerate — regenerate. 
I  know  what  the  educationalists  are  saying.  Give  us 
pretty  surroundings,  better  art,  better  books,  flowers, 
and  an  automobile  to  ride  in — some  of  the  people  who 
have  these  things  are  the  biggest  sinners.  I  have  yet 
to  learn  that  there  is  any  essential  connection  between 
a  Prince  Albert  coat,  a  silk  hat,  and  a  clean  heart. 

Some  of  the  poorest  people  I  have  ever  known  in 
this  world  have  been  the  most  saintly;  some  of  the 
richest  have  been  the  greatest  scoundrels. 

The  hope  of  the  world  is  Jesus  Christ — not  Oxford, 
not  Yale,  not  Harvard,  not  Princeton,  not  Athens,  not 
Plato,  not  Cambridge.  It  is  over  an  old-fashioned  hill 
called  Calvary. 

The  hope  of  the  world  is  Jesus  whom  we  preach, 
"warning  every  man  and  teaching  every  man."  In 
these  words  you  have  the  universality  of  the  hope  of 
every  man — "that  we  may  present  every  man  perfect 
in  Christ." 

You  see  not  only  the  vastness  of  this  hope  but  the 
glory  of  it,  the  perfection  of  every  man  in  Christ 
Jesus.     There's  the  glory,  as  Paul  tells  the  Ephesian 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  39 

church,  "that  in  the  ages  to  come  He  might  show  the 
exceeding  riches  of  His  kindness  toward  us  in  Christ 
Jesus." 

Teaching  and  admonishing  you  is  what  I  have  been 
doing  this  week.  I  know  you  don't  Hke  that.  I  have 
let  down  a  bucket  and  stirred  up  the  mud,  but  it  was 
my  bucket,  not  my  mud.  If  you  will  be  a  Goliath  in 
sin,  don't  be  surprised  if  God  sends  some  little  David 
along  with  his  sling  and  stone  and  floors  you  with  your 
mouth  in  the  dust  and  your  heels  in  the  air.  You  need 
to  be  brought  down  low  in  the  dust,  and  I  would  tO' 
God  I  knew  how  to  bring  you  there,  for  I  know  the 
only  way  up  is  to  come  down  lowly  in  the  dust  before 
God. 

I  have  seen  the  worst  kind  and  the  best  kind  of 
people  in  the  world — if  there  is  any  best  and  worst. 
There  can  be  only  two  kinds  of  sinners  in  the  world ; 
the  man  who  is  found  out  and  the  man  who  is  not. 
I  wonder  how  many  people  here  would  be  in  jail  to-day 
if  their  real  selves  were  known.  I  wonder  if  your 
friends  would  recognize  you  on  the  street,  or  sit  be- 
side you  in  church  if  they  knew  you  as  you  really  are. 
But  the  wonderful  thing  is,  no  matter  how  far  you 
have  strayed  from  God's  commands,  how  greatly  you 
have  erred,  the  grace  of  Christ  can  save.  This  is  the 
hope  of  the  world. 

H  you  came  here  this  morning  eaten  up  with  a 
loathsome  disease;  if  you  came  with  a  consciousness 
of  having  broken  all  the  ten  commandments,  Christ 
can  make  you  new  and  whole  again  through  amazing 
grace. 


40  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

Let  no  man  despair  because  of  his  great  sin;  it  is 
not  what  you  are,  but  what  He  is.  "Christ  is  the  end 
of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  be- 
lieveth."  Christ  is  the  Saviour  for  sinners  because 
He  bore  your  sin  on  the  cross  and  rose  again  for  your 
justification,  and  then  was  exaUed  to  sit  on  the  throne 
and  become  a  Prince,  and  a  Saviour.  God,  His  Father, 
in  giving  Him  that  seat  on  His  right  hand  on  the 
throne,  is  saying  to  a  world  of  hopeless  sinners,  Justice, 
Righteousness,  Eternal  Law  and  Love  are  all  satisfied. 
Here  is  your  hope,  Jesus — so  no  man  need  despair  be- 
cause he  is  a  sinner.  God  has  met  and  provided  the 
remedy. 

Tell  them  that  for  me — Jesus  is  the  sinner's  Hope. 
The  Devil  often  comes  to  me  and  tells  me,  ''You  are 
^  not  what  you  ought  to  be" ;  and  I  answer  him  and  say, 
'T  am  not  as  bad  as  I  was."  He  tells  me,  ''You  are 
not  what  you  ought  to  be,"  but  then  it  is  not  what  I 
am  but  what  Christ  is  that  gives  me  hope.  And  if  He 
gets  into  your  heart  and  your  life.  He  will  work  a 
miracle. 

"Whom  we  preach,  warning  every  man,  teaching 
every  man,  that  we  may  present  every  man  perfect  in 
Christ  Jesus."  That  pieces  up  with  the  other  word 
in  Ephesians  HI,  "According  to  the  power  that  work- 
eth  in  us."  God  is  able  to  work  in  you  and  take  away 
\  all  sin  and  make  you  like  Jesus.  The  Holy  Spirit  will 
reproduce  Jesus  in  you — the  hope  of  glory,  Christ  in 
you;  and  you  will  be  able  to  say  with  the  Apostle, 
"I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 

It  is  Jesus  that  has  to  do  it — not  the  preacher — not 
the   Church — not   the   outward   form,   but  the   inner 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  41 

workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Jesus  must  be  wrought 
in  you.    Jesus — this  is  the  hope  of  the  world. 

Have  you  Christ  within  this  morning?  Is  He  your 
Saviour  ?  Do  you  love  Him  ?  Do  you  long  for  Him 
above  everything  else?  Do  you  long  to  look  into  His 
face  and  feel  His  touch,  and  hear  Him  speak  to  you 
more  than  anything  else  in  this  world  this  morning? 

If  you  feel  like  that,  that  is  the  evidence  that  Christ 
is  within  you.  And  my  text  shall  be,  "He  that  loveth 
is  born  of  God."  And  if  you  love  God  and  if  your 
heart  is  given  to  Him,  then  you  may  class  yourself  as 
a  Christian.  "He  that  loveth  is  born  of  God."  Close 
your  eyes  and  say,  "My  Jesus,  I  love  Thee,  I  know 
thou  art  mine."  If  you  do  this,  then  blessed  art  thou, 
oh,  love  of  God. 

And  I  ask  in  closing  this  morning.  What  brought 
you  here  to-day?  Did  you  come  to  see  a  man  or  to 
see  God  ?  Did  you  come  to  hear  the  voice  of  a  preacher 
or  to  hear  the  voice  of  Him  who  spoke  from  the  great 
white  throne  ?  You  know.  I  will  tell  you  what  brought 
me.  I  need  God  and  I  want  to  help  you  a  little  nearer 
to  Him.  I  want  more  of  God  for  myself  and  I  want 
more  of  God  for  you.  Are  you  contented  with  His 
gifts  and  do  not  want  Him? 

I  told  you  a  story  last  night  of  my  sweet  little 
daughter,  Zillah.    Let  me  tell  you  another. 

I  had  just  returned  from  America  and  had  reached 
my  home  in  Manchester  where  I  was  living  at  that 
time.  I  had  been  separated  from  my  family  for  nine 
long  months,  nine  long,  homesick,  strenuous  months. 
And  when  I  reached  home  I  found  my  pastor  busy, 
conducting  a  sale  of  miscellaneous  articles  in  order 


42  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

to  provide  a  home  for  the  waifs  of  that  city.  And 
because  there  was  no  other  man  just  Hke  him  in  the 
world  to  me,  I  felt  that  my  place  was  by  his  side. 

So  I  took  my  family  and  went  to  him^  and  Zillah, 
my  baby,  was  hanging  on  to  my  coat,  my  arm.  Her 
little  arms  were  twined  around  some  part  of  me.  Her 
little  touch  was  just  what  I  had  been  hungry  for. 
Her  voice  was  the  music  my  heart  had  pined  for. 

As  we  were  walking  I  met  a  bachelor  friend  who  I 
knew  did  not  understand  children  and  did  not  care 
for  them  much,  and  I  was  afraid  my  little  child's  con- 
stant talking  and  prattle,  which  was  music  to  me, 
would  annoy  him.  I  took  some  coins  from  my  pocket 
and  told  my  little  Zillah  to  take  what  money  she  liked 
and  go  to  one  of  the  various  stalls  and  spend  it  as 
she  desired. 

She  refused  to  take  the  money  and,  looking  at  me, 
said,  *'Daddy,  I  don't  want  your  old  money.  You 
have  been  away  nine  months,  I  want  to  be  with  you. 
It  is  you  I  want." 

What  is  it  you  want?  The  Lord's  money  or  the 
Lord.  The  fine  things  He  can  give  you,  or  do  you 
want  Him?  What  are  you  hunting,  digging,  scraping 
for?  Is  it  the  hope  of  your  heart  and  life?  Is  it 
the  hope  of  the  world?  The  thing  you  are  striving 
for  is  not  satisfying  to  the  hunger  within  until  you 
know  Jesus  Christ,  whom  we  preach,  striving  to  pre- 
sent every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus. 


VI 

WHAT  SHALL  I  DO  THEN  WITH  JESUS? 

Matthew  2y :  22. — 'Tilate  saith  unto  them,  'What  shall  I 
do  then  with  Jesus  which  is  called  Christ?'  They  all 
say  unto  him,  'Let  him  be  crucified.'  " 

These  words  are  the  record  of  one  of  the  most  dia- 
bolical crimes  ever  committed  in  the  history  of  the 
world. 

The  soldiers  took  Him  into  the  common  barrack 
room,  the  meeting  place  of  the  vulgar,  and  there  they 
stripped  Him,  took  His  clothes  off  and  let  Him  stand 
there  naked.  Think  of  His  standing  there,  the  object 
to  be  gazed  upon  and  insulted  by  their  cruel  jests  and 
vulgar  remarks,  and  could  men  or  devils  or  both,  ever 
offer  Him,  the  divine  Son  of  God,  a  greater  or  more 
devilish  insult?  That  refined,  sensitive,  tender,  inno- 
cent, gracious,  loving  friend  and  brother,  Saviour  of 
the  world,  standing  there  naked  and  alone,  and  all 
because  you  and  I  have  sinned  and  come  short  of 
the  glory  of  God. 

And  when  they  had  platted  a  crown  of  thorns,  they 
put  it  on  His  head  and  a  reed  in  His  right  hand ;  and 
they  bowed  the  knee  before  Him  and  mocked  Him, 
saying,  "Hail,  King  of  the  Jews" — they  had  heard 
Him  say  He  was  a  king.  They  gave  Him  a  stick,  a 
reed   for  a  sceptre.     Then  they  bowed  their  knees. 

43 


44  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

If  you  are  sensitive,  if  you  have  any  delicacy,  any 
tenderness,,  any  refinement,  you  must  shudder,  as  you 
read  these  words  and  think  of  the  indignity,  the  humili- 
ation, the  insult  to  His  divine,  holy  and  sensitive  nature. 
And  He  suffered  all  this  at  the  hands  of  cruel,  wicked, 
vulgar  and  sensual  men.  And  how  much  He  must 
have  recoiled  from  it.  He,  the  Son  of  God,  who  had 
the  worship  of  angels  and  the  adoration  of  archangels. 

They  mocked  Him  and  made  fun  of  Him — the  Son 
of  God.  When  they  couldn't  think  of  anything  else 
they  walked  up  to  Him  and  spat  in  His  face.  This 
was  the  climax.  After  that  they  took  the  red  tunic 
off  Him  and  put  His  own  raiment  on  Him  and  made 
Him  bear  His  cross  to  Calvary  and  there  they  cruci- 
fied Him.  The  murderous  soldiers  were  only  the 
puppets  in  the  hands  of  more  diabolical  perpetrators. 
You  know  who  they  were,  the  High  Priests,  the  reli- 
gious officials  of  the  day,  surrounded  by  a  blood- 
thirsty, angry,  sensual  mob. 

Listen!  Have  you  ever  said  thank  you?  If  you 
were  to  fall  down  the  steps  as  you  go  out  of  this 
building  and  some  one  should  help  you,  if  you  had  a 
bit  of  strength  left,  you  would  say  "Thank  you."  If 
he  were  a  stranger  you  would  thank  him. 

But  have  you  ever  stopped  to  say  "Thank  you"  to 
Jesus?  Have  you  ever  shed  one  tear  of  gratitude? 
Have  you  ever  shed  one  tear  of  penitence?  Have 
you  ever  bowed  your  knee  at  the  feet  of  the  Lord, 
at  the  feet  of  Him  who  was  wounded  for  your  trans- 
gressions, and  bruised  for  your  iniquities?  Have  you 
ever  said  to  Him,  "Oh,  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  have  mercy 
on  me!" 


WHAT  SHALL  I  DO  THEN  WITH  JESUS?      45 

Those  soldiers  gave  your  reproaches  and  mine;  and 
they  were  doing  for  you  and  for  me  what  our  sin 
made  possible.  Your  sin  and  my  sin  rejected  Jesus 
and  said,  *'Away  with  Him.  Let  Him  be  crucified." 
The  soldiers  who  stripped  and  ihsulted  Him  in  the 
barrack  room  and  spat  in  His  face,  and  then  led  Him 
away  to  Calvary,  and  nailed  Him  to  the  cross  between 
two  thieves,  the  man  who  pierced  His  side,  the  man 
who  gave  Him  the  vinegar  to  drink  when  He  cried, 
"I  thirst,"  the  rabble  mob  that  cried,  "Not  this  man, 
but  Barabbas," — were  all  representative  of  the  world's 
worst,  its  cruel  hatred  against  right,  its  love  of  wrong, 
and  its  rejection  of  God's  Christ. 

It  seemed  as  though  all  Hell  boiled  over  that  day 
and  as  though  the  devils  had  triumphed.  Oh,  man! 
Oh,  woman !  Will  you  please  close  your  eyes  and  re- 
member it  was  your  sin  and  mine  which  helped  to 
make  possible  that  awful  day,  the  darkest  the  world 
ever  knew. 

What  they  did  at  the  cross — the  crime  they  com- 
mitted in  their  depravity — was  yours  and  mine.  I 
claim  before  God,  and  before  the  minds  of  all  who 
understand  equity,  before  God  and  angels  until  we 
say,  '1  protest,"  "I  object,"  "I  declare  it  is  wrong," 
you  are  held  before  God  as  guilty  of  what  the  soldiers 
did  that  day. 

It  was  for  your  sins  and  mine  that  He  submitted 
to  this  indignity.  Have  you  ever  claimed  Jesus  pub- 
licly as  your  Saviour?  Until  you  do,  you  are  guilty, 
as  guilty  as  the  High  Priests  that  condemned  Him. 
You  are  guilty  before  God  until  you  take  sides  with 
those  who  love  and  serve  Him.     If  you  want  my  text 


46  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

for  that,  Christ  Himself  said,  "He  that  is  not  with  me 
is  against  me." 

Now  if  you  are  for  Him,  live  for  Him.  If  you 
are  for  Him,  show  it.  Let  the  world  see  it  every 
day,  show  it  in  your  conduct  with  one  another,  show 
it  in  the  management  of  your  affairs. 

Prove  you  are  with  Him.  Prove  you  are  for  Him, 
and  against  the  workers  of  iniquity.  You  must  leave 
and  discard  and  turn  your  back  on  all  that  is  in  oppo- 
sition to  His  glorious  and  eternal  will. 

This  morning  you  stand  among  the  group  of  sol- 
diers who  spat  in  His  face,  or  you  stand  with  Martin 
Luther,  Wesley,  Moody,  and  your  saintly  mother. 
You  are  standing  with  the  men  who  nailed  Him  to  the 
cross  or  you  are  standing  with  the  faithful  who  hold 
His  trust.  You  are  for  Him  or  against  Him — which 
is  it? 

You  say,  *'I  think  I  am  for  Him."  Be  perfectly 
sincere  now.  Would  you  say  and  do  as  you  did  yester- 
day and  are  doing  to-day  and  did  the  day  before  if 
you  were  for  Him?  If  you  were  with  Him  and  for 
Him  would  you  be  living  in  that  atmosphere  you  are 
living  in?  Would  you  be  planning  what  you  are 
planning  at  this  moment?  You  must  answer  this 
question. 

You  must  answer  it  before  you  leave  this  building. 
God  says  answer  it  now.  Now,  this  moment.  And 
you  must  give  Him  an  answer.  You  will  go  out  of 
those  doors  for  Christ  or  against  Him.  You  will  take 
away  with  you  Christ  or  the  Devil.  You  will  let 
Jesus  conquer  your  heart  or  you  will  go  away  arm 
in  arm  with  Satan. 


WHAT  SHALL  I  DO  THEN  WITH  JESUS?      47 

You  make  that  choice.  Nobody  else  can  do  it  for 
you.  Pilate  cannot  answer  this  question  for  you. 
The  crowd  cannot.  I  cannot.  These  preachers  can^ 
not.  You  are  answering  it,  you  must  answer  it  for 
yourself. 

What  will  you  do  ?  Once  more  you  have  been  com- 
pelled to  think  about  Jesus.  You  are  being  compelled 
every  day  in  many  ways.  Your  city  is  being  com- 
pelled to  think  about  Him. 

What  is  the  cause  of  these  great  crowds  which 
assemble  here  twice  each  day?  They  are  thinking 
of  the  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  You  face  your  news- 
papers at  your  breakfast  table  in  the  morning  and  the 
first  thing  that  takes  your  eye  is  '7^sus"  and  what  He 
is  doing  in  your  city.  People  all  around  you  are  talk- 
ing about  Him. 

Have  you  got  to  thinking  of  Him?  You  can't  get 
rid  of  Him.     He  is  the  unavoidable  Christ. 

Oh,  my  brother,  my  sister,  mind  you  don't  miss 
your  Jesus,  your  chance  is  now.  And  some  of  you 
are  doing  it.  What  will  Jesus  do  with  me?  You 
know  that  depends  on  what  you  do  with  Jesus.  You 
look  in  your  own  heart  if  you  want  to  know  what 
He  will  do  with  you  some  day  and  ask  yourself, 
''What  am  I  doing  with  Him?"  What  do  you  expect 
Christ  to  do? 

Why,  I  have  talked  to  men  whose  home  held  Chris- 
tian wives  and  children  and  they  have  said  to  me, 
'Tf  I  could  go  to  Heaven  just  as  I  am,  without  a 
change  of  nature,  Heaven  would  be  impossible." 
Heaven  would  be  Hell  to  any  man  or  woman  without 
a  change  of  heart.     Some  of  you  are  miserable  in  the 


48  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

presence  of  a  good  man  or  woman  now.  You  do  not 
like  to  go  to  Church.  Why  ?  Because  in  the  presence 
of  goodness  you  are  out  of  your  setting.  To  enjoy 
Heaven,  your  heart,  your  mind,  your  nature,  must  be 
changed  by  grace,  and  made  ready  for  the  company 
of  a  holy  God  and  the  people  who  have  washed  their 
robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 

You  have  got  to  be  in  spirit  and  in  thought  and  in 
feeling,  in  harmony  with  the  Lamb  if  you  are  going  to 
enjoy  Heaven.  You  would  be  in  Hell  when  you  got 
there  without  a  new  birth.  And  He  can  give  you  this 
new  nature  for  He  is  still  the  wonder-working  Christ. 

I  know  He  died  for  me.  I  know  that  they  mocked 
Him,  spumed  Him,  crowned  His  brow  with  thorns, 
cast  a  soldier's  tunic  about  Him;  I  know  that  they 
struck  Him,  smote  Him  in  the  face,  and  spat  upon 
Him,  and  insulted  Him  in  every  vile  manner — and  I 
know  He  never  protested  a  word. 

"Like  a  sheep  before  his  shearers,  He  was  dumb, 
and  there  was  no  guile  in  His  mouth."  I  know  He 
was  God's  lamb  to  take  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 

And  I  also  know  that  He  is  the  Lion  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah  and  can  break  every  chain  that  binds  the 
human  heart  and  can  give  victory  over  the  world, 
the  flesh  and  the  Devil. 

You  may  walk  out  of  this  house  a  friend  of  Jesus 
if  you  bow  at  His  feet.  You  may  become  reconciled 
to  Him  if  you  will.  You  may  go  out  a  saved  man 
and  a  saved  woman  if  you  will.  The  choice  and  the 
responsibility  of  the  choice  is  yours. 


VII 
AND  LOT  LIFTED  UP  HIS  EYES 
Gen.  13:  10. — "And  Lot  lifted  up  his  eyes." 

Lof s  mistake  and  the  consequent  loss  of  his  wife 
and  possessions  and  family  followed,  when  he  pitched 
his  tent  towards  Sodom. 

You  remember  that  interview  with  his  uncle  Abra- 
ham. They  were  living  together  and  their  stock  and 
herdsmen  were  becoming  too  many  to  live  together 
peaceably.  Lot  was  the  younger  of  the  two  and 
should  have  revered  the  opinions  of  his  old  uncle. 
Abraham  said  unto  him,  ''Choose."  He  gave  him  the 
choice  of  the  watering  places  and  fertile  grazing  fields. 
Why  didn't  Lot  say  to  his  uncle  as  he  should  have  said, 
"Uncle,  give  me  your  advice;  you  are  an  older  man 
than  I."  But  he  didn't  do  that — he  settled  it  himself. 
He  looked  toward  the  well  watered  plains  of  Sodom 
and  selfishly  chose  them.  He  pitched  his  tent  towards 
Sodom  and  in  that  way  lay  danger. 

Don't  pitch  your  tent  towards  Sodom — the  next 
step  you  will  be  in  Sodom.  No  man  who  professes 
to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  can  go  into  Sodom  without 
one  of  two  things  happening:  either  you  must  make 
Sodom  better  or  Sodom  will  make  you  worse.  You 
can  settle  that  once  and  forever.  Either  you  will  up- 
lift Sodom  or  Sodom  will  lead  you  far  from  the  path 
in  which  you  can  walk  and  talk  with  Jesus. 

49 


50  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

And  to  begin  with,  if  you  are  a  Christian,  you 
have  no  right  in  Sodom  unless  you  go  there  to  preach 
the  gospel — unless  you  go  there  to  preach  and 
interpret  God's  mind  and  word. 

But  that  was  not  Lot's  purpose  in  going  to  Sodom. 
He  went  there  because  his  heart  was  there.  He  liked 
the  ways  of  the  people  of  Sodom.  He  liked  the  glit- 
ter and  the  flash  and  the  sparkle  of  society  there. 
The  Bible  calls  Lot  righteous  later  on.  If  he  is 
called  righteous,  it  is  because  when  God  forgives  a 
sin,  he  does  it  wholly  and  completely.  Lot  showed 
very  little  of  virtue  in  Sodom.  He  did  not  hurt  him- 
self trying  to  make  it  a  better  city. 

If  you  take  your  family  to  the  Devil,  do  not  be 
surprised  if  the  Devil  damns  them.  Don't  tear  God 
from  the  hearts  of  your  children  and  be  surprised 
some  day  if  the  Devil  gets  the  vacant  place. 

I  have  known  many  a  mother  come  to  me  and  ask 
me  to  pray  for  her  boy.  And  I  know  she  is  living 
a  worldly  life,  and  how  can  she  expect  her  boy  to 
become  a  dutiful  Christian?  "How  old  is  your  boy?'* 
I  asked  that  woman.  "He  is  about  twenty-one  years  of 
age,"  she  said.  "How  did  you  live  when  he  was  a 
little  fellow  ?"  I  asked  her.  And  I  knew  that  she  was 
not  the  mother  she  ought  to  have  been.  If  you  mix 
up  with  the  doubtful  and  the  frivolous  things,  don't 
be  surprised  if  some  day  you  wake  up  to  find  you 
are  the  parent  of  half-damned  children. 

The  other  night  I  was  spoken  to  by  a  woman  who 
said,  "I  am  the  mother  of  four  children;  my  husband 
was  unconverted  when  I  married  him."  I  replied, 
"You  were  a  contracting  party ;  you  were  disobedient. 


AND  LOT  LIFTED  UP  HIS  EYES  51 

What  right  had  you  to  marry  an  unconverted  person 
when  God  had  said  distinctly  and  definitely  to  you,  'Be 
ye  not  unequally  yoked  together  with  unbelievers. 
Many  sorrows  shall  be  to  the  wicked.'  " 

If  people  will  choose  their  own  way  and  pitch  their 
own  tents  toward  Sodom,  they  must  expect  trouble. 
And  if  you  don't  expect  it,  it  will  come.  The  unalter- 
able law  of  disobedience  is  the  hiding  of  God's  face. 

If  you  pitch  your  tent  toward  Sodom,  you  are  going 
to  have  trouble.  If  you  choose  the  well  watered  plains 
of  Sodom,  because  it  will  bring  you  social  prominence, 
it  will  bring  you  trouble,  that  is  all.  It  means  the 
loss  of  the  fellowship  of  God.  Your  windows  ought 
to  be  opened  towards  Jerusalem.  They  can't  be 
opened  towards  Sodom.  That  way  lies  pleasure,  lies 
self-indulgence;  that  way  lies  the  world;  that  way  lies 
darkness,  lies  guilt;  that  way  lies  the  wrath  of  God 
and  fire  of  God. 

Don't  pitch  your  tents  towards  Sodom. 

I  have  known  mothers  and  fathers,  church  members, 
who  have  stood  in  the  way  of  their  children's  service 
to  God.  I  have  been  preaching  long  enough  to  know 
these  things.  I  have  seen  mothers  and  fathers  who 
were  church  members  who  would  not  approve  of  their 
daughters  becoming  missionaries,  but  who  were  quite 
willing  for  them  to  marry  men  who  were  morally  rot- 
ten because  they  had  money.  They  were  willing  to 
sell  them  for  an  automobile. 

I  am  talking  to  women  who  will  spurn  a  sister- 
woman  if  she  falls,  but  will  take  back  the  man  who 
ruined  her.  They  will  bring  him  into  their  homes 
and  jazz  with  him.    Jazz  with  a  man  like  that !    You 


53  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

church  women  will  do  that.  That  is  looking  towards 
Sodom.  You  will  let  your  pure  daughter  jazz  with  a 
moral  leper  and  you  will  kick  the  woman  who  has 
been  ruined  by  that  moral  leper  out  of  your  home,  out 
of  your  presence,  out  of  your  Church. 

But  God's  sympathies  are  with  the  poor  woman  who 
is  kicked  into  the  gutter.  His  lips  never  said  an  angry 
word  against  the  woman  who  had  fallen.  His  wither- 
ing sarcasm  was  hurled  at  the  hypocrites  who  con- 
demned her. 

You  remember  Lot's  wife  and  what  she  stands  for. 
She  stands  for  Sodom.  She  stands  for  the  things  some 
of  you  are  standing  for.  She  stands  for  some  of  the 
things  you  are  clinging  to. 

You  have  got  Prohibition — why  don't  you  prohibit? 
Why  are  you  not  loyal  Americans  and  stand  by  the 
Eighteenth  Amendment?  If  you  expect  America  to 
stand  by  you  and  protect  you  and  your  family,  why 
should  not  you  keep  all  its  laws  and  be  loyal  or  leave 
the  country? 

Do  you  know  what  you  Christian  mothers  ought  to 
do?  You  ought  to  make  it  so  hot  in  your  city  that 
bootleggers  couldn't  exist.  You  want  the  strong  drink 
put  away  from  your  sons,  don't  you?  You  want  the 
saloons  closed,  don't  you  ?  Well  then,  close  your  cel- 
lars and  sideboards ! 

If  you  are  what  you  ought  to  be,  you  will  not  taste 
or  handle  it  yourself,  or  be  guilty  of  the  awful  crime  of 
giving  alcohol  to  any  human  being  in  God's  earth. 
You  are  helping  Sodom,  that  is  all.  I  don't  care 
who  you  are.  I  don't  care  what  your  social  position  is. 
You  represent  Sodom.     If  you  are  allied  with  the 


AND  LOT  LIFTED  UP  HIS  EYES  53 

forces  of  evil  in  any  shape  or  form,  you  belong  to 
Sodom.  Remember  the  wrath  of  God  on  the  people 
of  Sodom.  There  is  nothing  much  said  of  Lot  here. 
But  I  should  think  enough  has  been  said  of  him.  If 
you  go  to  Sodom,  you  ought  to  make  it  better  than 
it  is.  When  Jesus  accepted  an  invitation  to  a  worldly 
feast  or  social  function.  He  preached  a  sermon  or 
worked  a  miracle;  He  turned  the  occasion  into  one  of 
healing,  helping  or  the  saving  of  some  one  or  the  de- 
livery of  a  message  which  made  some  poor,  broken 
heart  glad. 

Where  you  have  one  friend,  I  have  thousands.  But 
nobody  invites  me  to  a  wine  supper.  Nobody  invites 
me  to  a  dance  or  to  play  cards.  And  I  am  as  lively 
as  any  of  you.  Don't  you  think  there  isn^t  a  bit  of 
skip  in  me  because  then  you  wouldn't  know  me.  I  am 
tempted  by  the  same  things  that  you  are.  Why  don't 
they  invite  me  to  dance?  Why  don't  they  invite  me  to 
wine  suppers  and  to  play  cards  ?    Why  not  ? 

You  say,  "Oh,  Mr.  Smith,  it  is  obvious — " 

You  think  I  wouldn't  go. 

And  you  won't  go  either  if  you  are  the  Christian 
you  ought  to  be. 

Oh,  my  God,  make  us  out  and  out  anew!  Turn 
your  faces  on  Sodom  and  look  towards  Jerusalem. 
Dare  to  be  a  Daniel.  You  know  how  Daniel  acted  at 
that  court.  The  men  who  hated  him  said,  "We  shall 
never  catch  him  unless  we  catch  him  at  his  prayers." 

Then  they  went  and  said  to  the  King,  "Oh,  King, 
live  forever."  That  is  the  way  we  always  approach 
those  we  want  to  get  something  of  by  flattery.  They 
said,  "We  want  you  to  make  a  decree  that  nobody  shall 


54  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

pray  in  this  city  for  so  many  days,  or  be  cast  into 
the  den  of  lions." 

The  King  signed  the  decree.  But  Daniel  went  just 
as  before  to  his  knees  and  he  kept  his  window  open 
toward  Jerusalem.     And  he  prayed. 

My  brother,  my  sister,  only  prayer  will  make  you 
strong,  and  noble,  and  true,  and  constant,  and  faithful, 
and  Christ-like  in  the  midst  of  the  unreality  and 
sham  of  the  superficial  life  about  you.  And  if  you 
try  to  go  with  one  and  hold  to  the  other,  well,  you 
will  come  to  grief.  If  you  pitch  your  tents  towards 
Sodom,  and  then  get  there,  you  will  lose  your  soul. 
If  you  are  saved  as  by  fire,  it  won't  be  a  very  glorious 
salvation.  The  world  will  lose  more  than  you  gain  be- 
cause of  your  inconsistency. 

You  may  be  saved  by  the  skin  of  your  teeth,  but 
what  about  your  family  you  left  in  Sodom? 


VIII 

COME 

Rev.  22: 17. — "And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And 
let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is 
athirst  come.  And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  life  freely." 

There  is  a  garden  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Bible 
and  it  was  lost.  But  you  get  a  bigger  one  in  the  last. 
You  get  a  bit  of  a  trickle  of  a  stream  in  the  first  book, 
but  you  have  a  mighty  river  in  the  last  chapter.  You 
get  fruit  and  a  tree  in  the  first  garden,  but  in  the  last 
you  have  a  tree  whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations.  There  is  a  great  deal  more  in  the  last, 
in  Jesus  Christ,  than  was  ever  lost  in  the  first. 

"And  they  shall  see  His  face;  and  His  name  shall 
be  in  their  foreheads." 

I  wonder  if  you  carry  His  name  in  your  forehead. 
I  wonder  if  your  face  shows  that  you  live  the  life  of 
a  Christian.  I  wonder  if  the  people  who  know  you 
say  of  you,  "She  is  a  Christian  woman."  "He  is  a 
Christian  man."  "She  is  a  saint."  "He  is  a  saint." 
"That  is  a  God-like  man."  "That  is  a  God-like 
woman."  They  stand  for  the  things  of  God,  and  "His 
name  shall  be  in  their  foreheads." 

"I  am  the  oiifspring  of  David,  and  the  bright  and 
morning  star."  If  He  had  only  said  that,  we  wouldn't 
know  how  to  reach  Him,  but  He  said,  "I  am  the  off- 
spring of  David." 

55 


56  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

You  have  seen  an  old  tree  cut  down  clear  to  the 
roots,  and  then  have  seen  grow  up  from  it  little  tender 
shoots.  "I  am  the  root  and  offspring  of  David.'* 
And  you  can  approach  God,  the  Infinite,  through  the 
root  and  offspring  of  David — Jesus.  God  has  stooped 
to  your  need  and  mine  by  making  it  possible  to  know 
Him  through  His  Son,  Christ,  and  when  Jesus  saw 
that  His  disciples  were  overcome  with  the  mystery 
of  that  thought,  when  He  saw  it  was  more  than  they 
could  bear,  He  said,  '*He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen 
the  Father." 

In  coming  to  Jesus,  you  come  to  God.  In  under- 
standing Jesus,  we  understand  God.  We  only  under- 
stand God  through  Jesus.  No  man  can  come  to  the 
Father,  except  through  the  Son. 

"I  am  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life:  no  one 
cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me." 

So  if  you  have  found  Him,  what  is  your  business? 
If  you  have  come  into  contact  with  Him,  what  is  your 
business  ? 

If  you  have  discovered  the  grace  of  God,  what  is 
your  business?  If  you  have  felt  His  healing  touch, 
what  is  your  business?  What  is  next?  You  enjoy 
the  happiness  of  a  Christian,  what  next?  Do  you 
just  fondle  and  nurse  yourself  and  sing  to  yourself 
and  talk  about  the  sweet  by-and-by  and  thank  God 
you  are  not  as  other  men?  And  what  comes  after? 
Is  there  nothing  more  to  be  done?  Is  that  the  pro- 
gramme of  the  Christian  life? 

"The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say.  Come."  Jesus  has 
gone  back  to  glory,  but  the  Church  has  to  function. 
What  is  the  function  of  the  Church?    It  is  her  busi- 


COME  57 

ness  to  find  every  lost  man  and  woman,  and  to  make 
them  know  that  Jesus  Christ  has  made  possible  their 
salvation,  and  longs  for  them  to  come  to  Him  and 
accept  the  offers  of  love  and  the  privilege  of  saving 
grace.  And  the  Church  absolutely  fails  which  does 
not  see  and  feel  the  passion  which  compels  its  indi- 
vidual members  to  carry  out  this  divine  programme. 

Saving  the  world  is  the  function  of  the  Church  and 
her  everlasting  cry  should  be  in  the  music  of  the  words 
of  the  text,  'The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come."  That 
is  the  Church's  business:  not  to  please  ourselves,  not 
to  nurse  ourselves,  not  to  take  our  ease  and  live  in 
contentment. 

When  you  sing,  "Throw  out  the  lifeline,"  you  have 
got  to  be  ready  to  make  room  for  another  one  in  the 
boat.  It  seems  to  have  been  largely  forgotten  that  the 
business  of  the  Church  of  God  is  to  say  "Come." 

The  charm  of  the  Salvation  Army  to-day  is  that 
they  are  always  on  the  job.  Their  arm  is  always 
ready  to  stretch  out  to  the  helpless.  Why  aren't  we 
on  the  job?  We  were  there  before  they  were,  you 
know. 

The  poor  man  in  the  street,  the  poor  woman  in  the 
street!  I  am  going  to  make  a  statement.  If  a  poor 
drunkard  or  fallen  woman  would  wake  up  to  a  sense 
of  their  lost  condition  and  feel  a  longing  desire  to  climb 
up  out  of  the  slough  of  despond  into  which  they  had 
fallen,  and,  conscious  of  their  own  helplessness, 
knew  in  spite  of  their  desire  to  get  back  to  God  that 
they  must  have  human  help  and  human  sympathy, 
somebody  upon  whom  they  could  lean,  who  would 
stand  by  them  and  brother  and  mother  them,  to  whom 


58  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

would  they  go?  Would  they  knock  at  your  door? 
You  church-members,  would  they  come  to  your  church, 
which  is  nearly  always  closed?  I  ask  again,  where 
would  they  go?  In  nine  times  out  of  ten,  such  persons 
with  such  longings  would  go  to  the  Salvation  Army. 

Which  means  the  poor  sinner  has  faith  in  the  Sal- 
vation Army  and  hasn't  much  faith  in  us. 

Now  then,  if  we  are  to  save  those  people  we  must 
win  back  their  confidence  and  respect.  In  other  words, 
the  Church  of  God  must  sound  out  the  invitation  of 
the  cross.  "Whosoever  will  may  come."  And  must 
do  it  in  such  a  way  that  the  passion  rings  out  in  reality 
in  every  syllable  of  every  word. 

And  if  one  poor  woman  comes  up  to  you,  woman 
of  the  Church,  and  says,  "You  are  a  sister  woman,  but 
you  are  a  member  of  the  Church,  will  you  help  me  to 
a  better  life?"  Would  you  do  it?  But  they  don't 
come  to  you.  You  know  they  don't.  They  are  not 
going  to  you  business  men  either.  They  don't  expect 
help  from  you. 

And  the  men  and  women  (the  down  and  outers, 
as  you  call  them)  ought  to  be  able  to  say,  "The  Church 
of  God  in  this  city  will  help  me  when  I  want  to  get 
out  of  the  slough."  The  churches  will  have  to  say 
"Come"  a  little  louder. 

"The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say.  Come."  Have  you 
said  "Come"  to  anybody  this  morning?  Have  you 
been  and  knocked  at  anybody's  door  this  morning  and 
said,  "I  am  praying  for  your  soul.  You  must  come 
to  Jesus." 

"The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say.  Come."  And  you 
are  standing  as  the  representative  of  Jesus   Christ. 


COME  59 

Are  you  functioning?  Has  anybody  heard  the  great 
message  from  your  lips?  It  is  not  necessary  that 
you  should  be  able  to  preach.  It  doesn't  require  a 
preacher  to  say,  *'Come."    Don't  forget  that. 

Nobody  knows  the  name  of  the  man  who  pointed 
C.  H.  Spurgeon  to  Jesus,  but  the  world  has  heard 
of  Spurgeon,  the  great  London  preacher.  On  that 
snowy  Sunday  morning,  on  his  way  to  church,  the 
snow  fell  so  heavily  that  he  turned  into  the  little 
church  nearest  to  his  home  instead  of  going  to  his 
own  church.  The  same  storm  was  so  heavy  that  it  pre- 
vented the  preacher  from  coming,  and  the  few  people 
who  had  gathered  chose  one  of  their  own  number  to 
take  the  pulpit;  the  good  brother  was  no  preacher 
but  he  gave  out  a  text  and  the  text  was,  "Look  unto 
Me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth."  The 
preacher  quoted  his  text  two  or  three  times,  then,  look- 
ing around  and  seeing  a  strange  young  man  under  the 
gallery,  said,  "Young  man,  you  look  and  you  will  be 
saved."  And  Spurgeon  looked  and  was  saved,  and 
in  after  years,  referring  to  it,  said,  "I  looked  on  Him 
and  He  looked  on  me  and  we  were  one  forever." 

Sin  came  into  the  world  through  a  look  and  sin 
is  going  out  the  same  way.  Anybody  can  say  "Look" 
and  anybody  can  say  "Come."  If  the  Come  is  in 
your  heart,  it  will  find  a  way  to  your  lips. 

"The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say.  Come.  And  let  him 
that  heareth  say,  Come." 

You  have  said.  Come  to  the  Jazz.  You  have  said, 
Come  to  the  Dance.  You  have  said.  Come  and  play 
cards.  Have  you  ever  said,  "Come  and  let's  talk  about 
Jesus  together**?    Have  you  society  women  ever  said 


60  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

anything  like  that?  If  you  have  not,  what  have  you 
done  for  your  city  and  for  your  Saviour?  Let  him 
that  heareth  say  come,  and  don't  say  you  can't,  be- 
cause you  can ;  and  if  it  is  in  your  soul  you  will  say  it. 
You  can't  keep  it  in  if  you  are  full  of  the  grace 
of  God. 

If  you  are  a  Christian,  you  will  want  to  say  the 
word  Come.  You  can't  help  yourself.  I  pray  God 
this  morning  that  word  will  begin  to  enter  into  your 
heart  and  before  the  day  is  over  you  can  go  out  and 
say  to  someone,  "J^sus  loves  you.  Come." 

In  these  days  when  showers  of  blessing  are  falling 
all  about  you,  ''Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make 
his  paths  straight."  Make  possible  the  meeting  of 
Christ,  your  Lord,  with  those  you  love.  Invite  them 
to  meet  one  another,  and  if  you  are  anxious  for  your 
loved  ones  to  become  acquainted  with  the  saving  grace 
of  Jesus  Christ,  do  your  utmost  to  bring  about  the 
friendship. 

"The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him 
that  is  athirst  come." 

Brother,  are  you  thirsty? 

"I  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say, 

'Behold,  I  freely  give 
The  Living  water;  thirsty  one, 

Stoop  down,  and  drink,  and  live!'" 

I  know  this  is  true  because: 

"I  came  to  Jesus,  and  I  drank 

Of  that  life-giving  stream; 
My  thirst  was  quenched,  my  soul  revived, 

And  now  I  live  in  Him." 


COME  61 

Listen  a  moment,  poor  thirsty  one.  Put  God's  cup 
of  living  water  to  the  hps  of  your  parched  spirit,  and 
drink  freely  just  now. 

Whosoever ! ! !  That  means  you !  When  Jesus  said 
"Whosoever,"  He  included  you  and  me;  He  means 
us  all. 

Let  the  application  of  this  morning's  service  be  this : 
Go  and  say  come  to  somebody  before  the  night's  serv- 
ice. Go  and  call  on  somebody  and  say  *'Come."  Talk 
over  the  telephone,  speak  to  somebody  for  Jesus  Christ. 
Write  a  letter  to  somebody  to-day;  make  somebody's 
poor  burdened  heart  lighter  because  they  know  some- 
body cares. 

I  awoke  this  morning,  oh,  so  homesick,  so  lonesome. 
I  would  have  given  all  I  have  in  the  world  to  have 
felt  the  hand  of  somebody  and  I  am  only  a  man. 
There  are  other  people  who  feel  like  that.  In  the 
midst  of  a  crowd  they  can  be  hungry  and  lonesome, 
and  you  and  I  have  the  key  that  will  fit  the  lock  of 
their  hearts  for  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  tell  the  world 
about  Him. 

Oh,  Jesus,  teach  us  how  to  tell  about  the  gladness 
you  will  bring.    Amen! 


IX 

WHAT  WILT  THOU  THAT  I  SHOULD  DO 
UNTO  THEE? 

Mark  10:46-52. — "And  as  he  went  out  of  Jericho  .  .  .  blind 
Bartimeus  sat  by  the  highway  side  begging.  .  .  .  And 
Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  'What  wilt  thou 
that  I  should  do  unto  thee?'  The  blind  man  said 
unto  him,  'Lord,  that  I  might  receive  my  sight.'  And 
Jesus  said  unto  him,  'Go  thy  way;  thy  faith  hath 
made  thee  whole.' " 

My  dear,  old  father  once  said  to  me  in  our  garden 
at  home,  ''My  son,  there  are  sinners  in  Zion,  and  there 
are  sinners  out  of  Zion,  and  the  sinners  in  Zion  are 
keeping  the  sinners  out  of  Zion  from  coming  in.  And 
they  won't  come  in  until  they  get  converted  or  get  out." 

And  for  the  last  two  weeks  I  have  been  after  the 
sinners  in  Zion.  It  is  no  use  to  preach  to  the  uncon- 
verted outside  of  the  Church,  while  unconverted  people 
remain  in  the  Church. 

One  of  your  ministers  wrote  me  the  other  day, 
"What  my  Church  needs  is  conversion.'*  And  he 
went  on  to  tell  me  the  things  that  members  of  his 
church  were  doing.  If  I  did  what  those  people  are 
doing  I  would  think  I  needed  conversion  too.  There 
are  lots  of  you  who  are  contented  with  church  mem- 
bership and  who  know  nothing  about  spiritual  life. 
You  have  never  been  bom  again.  You  will  never  suc- 
ceed with  God  until  you  honestly  confess  the  truth 

62 


WHAT  WILT  THOU?  63 

that  you  need  conversion.  And  the  people  who  are 
around  you  will  be  hindered  until  you,  yourselves,  get 
right  with  Christ. 

The  people  who  fought  Jesus  and  opposed  Him 
every  day  were  the  very  people  who  professed  religion 
but  had  no  spiritual  life.  I  wonder  what  you  are  do- 
ing with  Jesus — if  you  are  wearing  a  cloak  that  is 
hindering  you.  It  may  be  ever  so  beautiful,  but  it  is 
not  according  to  the  will  of  God,  to  the  purpose  of 
Jesus  before  the  foundation  of  the  world.  For  you 
and  me,  it  won't  do. 

I  ask  you  this  morning.  Are  you  as  conscious  of 
your  need  of  Christ  as  was  this  blind  man,  because  if 
you  are,  why  don't  you  pelt  Heaven  with  your  cries? 
Why  aren't  you  crying:  "Jesus,  Son  of  David,  have 
mercy  on  me!" 

Jesus  said,  *What  wilt  thou  that  I  should  do  unto 
thee?"  The  blind  man  said,  *'Lord,  that  I  might 
receive  my  sight." 

That  was  what  he  needed  and  Christ  gave  it  to  him. 
Do  you  know  what  you  need  ?  Why  don't  you  get  on 
your  knees  and  say,  'Tord,  I  need  conversion,  I  have 
lived  an  evil  life.  I  have  lost  touch  with  the  Infinite. 
Lord,  save  me."  Why  don't  you  talk  like  that  to  your 
God?  Why  don't  you  take  off  the  garments  of  im- 
purity and  sin  and  tell  God  to  make  you  clean? 

"He  that  covereth  his  sin  shall  not  prosper,  but 
he  that  confesseth  and  forsaketh  his  sin,  shall  find 
mercy." 

You  know  I  had  a  church  for  four  years  and  I 
know  some  of  the  burdens  that  preachers  have  to  bear. 
I  know  some  of  the  worries  they  have  to  carry  to  bed 


64  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

with  them  at  night.  I  know  something  of  the  things 
that  embarrass  people  and  break  their  hearts  and  take 
the  vitaHty  out  of  their  message.  I  know.  I  know 
the  things  that  cHp  a  preacher's  wings. 

I  was  invited  one  day,  when  I  was  preaching  in  my 
church,  by  one  of  my  lady  members  for  lunch,  and 
we  sat  there  in  the  sunshine  in  her  drawing  room 
before  the  meal,  looking  out  upon  the  lawn.  Presently 
we  saw  another  lady  and  her  daughter  coming  toward 
the  house. 

"Oh,  dear,"  said  my  hostess,  "there's  Mrs.  So- 
and-So  coming;  I  hope  she  doesn't  come  here." 

But  the  lady  and  her  daughter  did  come  to  that 
house  and  my  hostess  rushed  to  the  door  and  greeted 
them  with  open  arms. 

"Come  in,"  she  thrilled,  "I  am  delighted  to  see  you. 
You'll  stay  for  lunch,  of  course." 

Yes,  you  saw  yourselves,  didn't  you,  that  moment? 
Do  you  think  you  will  grow  spiritually  while  you 
act  like  that? 

And  that  hostess  pressed  her  friend  to  stay,  and 
when  the  friend  protested  and  finally  left,  she  breathed 
a  sigh  and  said,  "I  am  glad  she  didn't  stay." 

So  I  said  to  her:  "Now  I  know  why  you  make 
such  little  progress  in  the  Christian  life.  You  have  got 
to  stop  lying."    And  she  knew  I  was  right. 

And  the  reason  some  of  you  make  no  spiritual  prog- 
ress is  because  you  are  not  honest  with  yourselves, 
with  God  and  with  other  people.  And  you  will  never 
win  anybody  to  Jesus  Christ  until  they  believe  in  you. 
And  do  you  know  what  is  your  need  this  morning? 
Are  you  willing  to  back  squarely  down  and  say,  "Oh, 


WHAT  WILT  THOU?  65 

Lord,  my  sin  is  lying,  selfishness,  love  of  the  world, 
love  of  dress,  love  of  money,  love  of  getting  on  in 
the  world.     Oh,  Lord,  help  me!" 

Some  of  you  spend  all  your  time  climbing,  and  the 
farther  you  climb  the  farther  you  will  have  to  fall 
some  day. 

Are  you  honest  with  Christ?  This  blind  man  was. 
Do  you  know  how  to  be?  *'A'nd  when  he  saw  his 
need  he  stated  it,"  Wouldn't  it  be  a  wonderful  thing 
ifj^our  need  and  God's  fulness  met  this  morning? 

Tf~7ou' will  cSst^ away  every  subterfuge  and  never 
mind  the  sneering  of  the  vulgar  crowd,  your  need 
would  be  filled.  The  crowd  will  always  sneer  at  people 
trying  to  get  to  Jesus.  They  said  to  that  blind  man, 
"Hold  your  peace"  but  he  cried  out  the  more.  And 
the  more  in  earnest  you  are  the  more  you  will  succeed 
with  Christ.  If  I  had  been  influenced  by  the  currents 
that  flowed  around  me  when  I  started  out  to  preach, 
I  wouldn't  have  been  here.  What  right  had  a  little 
uneducated  Gipsy  boy  to  preach? 

I  broke  every  rule  of  the  King's  grammar.  What 
did  I  know  about  grammar  ?  I  broke  the  rules  of  cor- 
rect speech!     But  I  broke  hearts  also. 

The  old  gray-heads  said  to  me,  "You  are  going  too 
fast,  my  boy,"  and  I  answered  them  and  said,  "You 
are  going  too  slow,  and  I  have  to  go  faster  to  make 
up  for  you." 

You  know  I  receive  letters  every  day  saying,  "Why 
don't  you  preach  all  the  gospel?  Why  don't  you 
preach  this  and  that?"  Those  letter  writers  are  angry 
because  I  do  not  emphasise  their  own  denominational 
differences.    We  have  been  divided  long  enough  and  it 


66  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

is  time  some  one  or  something  brought  us  together. 
The  men  who  talk  about  the  things  which  divide,  when 
there  are  so  many  essential  things  which  unite  us,  are 
fools  for  their  pains. 

I  would  burn  all  your  creeds  this  morning  if  I  could 
and  bring  you  to  the  foot  of  the  cross. 

My  brethren,  it  is  Christ  that  matters. 

You  know  it  is  astonishing  how  much  the  Devil 
likes  to  keep  Christians  apart,  and  if  he  can  do  it,  he 
is  going  to  claim  the  victory.  If  he  can  get  Christian 
people  to  quarrelling,  he  holds  a  Jubilee  in  the  bottom 
of  the  pit.  Every  man  that  loves  Jesus  Christ  is  my 
brother. 

I  went  to  the  boys  on  the  battlefields  of  France  and 
saw  them  in  the  mud  and  the  blood  dying  and  crying 
for  love.  I  kissed  them  for  their  mothers.  Do  you 
think  I  said,  "Are  you  a  Protestant,  or  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic, or  a  Jew?'*  I  looked  at  the  dying  boy  and  said, 
"Christ  died  for  you,"  and  that  is  the  message  I  have 
for  the  world,  and  if  you  have  sense  enough  to  receive 
it,  it  will  save  you. 

The  world  needs  this  message,  "Christ  died  for  the 
ungodly." 

Once  more  I  ask,  "Do  you  know  your  need  this 
morning?"  The  only  cure  is  Jesus  Christ  and  if  you 
have  the  will  and  the  heart  to  bow  at  His  feet  this 
morning  with  your  burden  of  sin  and  cry  for  mercy, 
it  will  be  given  you.    God  help  you  to  believe.    Amen! 


X 

IF  ANY  MAN  THIRST 

John  y.yj' — "^i^  the  last  day,  that  great  day  of  the  feast, 
Jesus  stood  and  cried,  saying.  If  any  man  thirst,  let 
him  come  unto  me  and  drink." 

Jesus  knew  exactly  how  to  put  His  finger  on  human 
needs.  He  knew  of  the  need  of  that  great  multitude 
as  they  had  come  and  gone,  and  were  there  on  the 
last  day  of  the  feast,  when  probably  the  biggest  crowd 
had  gathered  and  the  feast  had  failed  to  satisfy,  and 
He  knew  that  they  were  still  thirsty.  And  He  said, 
"If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  to  me  and  drink." 

And  you  know — you  who  are  present  this  morning 
are  like  the  multitudes  at  the  feast,  showing  evi- 
dences of  thirst.  And  the  mad  rush  that  has  taken 
hold  of  the  people  of  to-day,  the  everlasting  search 
for  something  that  will  satisfy,  shows  a  deep  hunger. 

There  are  some  of  you  who  want  two  picture  shows 
a  night.  You  used  to  be  satisfied  with  one,  and  if 
the  reel  changes  you  want  to  go.     Isn't  that  true? 

What  does  that  mean?  The  picture  didn't  satisfy 
you.  It  excited  you,  made  you  forget  while  you  were 
there,  but  afterwards  it  only  tantalised  you — it  only 
aggravated  you. 

Earthly  things  cannot  satisfy  you.  The  Bible  and 
the  Lord  God  Almighty  have  the  things  that  will. 
Why  spend  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread? 

67 


68  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

Earthly  waters  are  brackish.  Earthly  waters  do  not 
slake  the  thirst  of  the  immortal  soul.  The  Devil  is  a 
great  artist  and  he  paints  beautiful  pictures,  but  they 
are  mirages  of  the  desert.  When  you  think  you  have 
them,  they  turn  to  the  sand  of  the  desert. 

And  you  need  more  than  money.  You  need  more 
than  a  beautiful  home.  You  need  more  than  an  auto- 
mobile in  which  to  ride.  You  need  more  than  jewelry 
for  your  fingers  and  trinkets  for  your  neck.  You 
need  more  than  real  estate  and  a  balance  in  the  bank. 

You  are  not  a  dummy  to  be  dressed  up  and  put  in 
a  shop  window.  You  are  built  of  the  materials  out 
of  which  God  builds  eternity.  You  are  not  a  doll. 
You  are  a  soul.  You  need  more  than  food  and  raiment 
and  home  and  a  seat  in  the  theatre. 

Man  doesn't  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word 
that  proceeds  out  of  the  mouth  of  God.  I  wonder  if 
you  are  conscious  of  the  power  of  something  not  of 
the  world  in  you.  You  look  forward  for  weeks  to 
a  certain  function  which,  when  you  get  there,  disgusts 
and  palls  upon  you,  and  you  go  away  saying,  "What  a 
fool  I  am."  These  things  do  not  satisfy.  In  the  olden 
times,  there  was  a  king  who  offered  a  great  reward  to 
anybody  who  would  invent  a  new  pleasure.  And  if 
a  king  must  invite  somebody  to  invent  new  pleasures 
for  him,  you  may  despair  of  finding  them  always. 
You  can't  do  it.  There  is  nothing  new  to  offer.  Men 
and  women  have  tried  long  before  you  and  I  were 
born,  and  have  failed.  There  is  nothing  new  under  the 
sun. 

"Whosoever  drinketh  of  this  water  shall  thirst 
again:  but  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I 


IF  ANY  MAN  THIRST  69 

shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the  v^ater  that  I 
shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  spring- 
ing up  into  everlasting  life." 

Jenny  Lind,  when  she  was  the  idol  of  England 
and  America,  and  the  pet  and  idol  of  millions,  was 
offered  an  autograph  album  by  some  one  and  requested 
to  write  something  in  it.     She  wrote: 

"In  vain  I  seek  for  rest  in  all  created  good, 

It  leaves  me  still  unblessed  and  makes  me  cry  for  God; 

Ah,  sure  at  rest  I  cannot  be 

Until  my  soul  finds  rest  in  Thee." 

Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox  came  home  on  the  Aquitania 
from  England  to  die  and  I  happened  to  be  a  fellow- 
passenger.  She  had  wasted  away  and  but  little  re- 
mained of  that  beautiful  body  which  had  once  been 
her  pride.  One  day  they  had  carried  her  up  in  her 
chair  to  the  deck.  She  had  literally  shrivelled  up  and 
could  be  carried  in  arms.  She  knew  she  was  going 
home  for  the  last  time  and  she  sent  for  me  and  we 
talked  awhile. 

"Gipsy  Smith,"  she  said,  "'I  have  got  to  the  place 
where  I  just  want  God." 

"Oh,  if  you  had  only  found  that  out  before,"  I 
told  her. 

The  trouble  is  that  people  are  willing  to  take  God 
into  their  homes,  and  hearts,  and  programmes,  when 
life  is  played  out,  instead  of  when  the  fire  of  youth 
and  an  outlook  for  service  is  there. 

Why  not  give  him  the  alabaster  box  filled  with  the 
precious  perfume  of  a  full-orbed  life  instead  of  the 
broken  fragments  of  a  wasted  life? 


70  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

"If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  to  me  and  drink." 

You  talk  about  your  earthly  rivers.  In  the  summer 
time  they  get  very  low  and  sometimes  so  lov^  that 
one  can  cross  without  getting  his  feet  wet.  You 
can't  do  that  with  God^s  river.    His  river  is  always  full. 

And  I  will  tell  you  why  this  is.  Earthly  rivers  flow 
to  an  ocean.  They  are  fed  by  small  streams  and  by 
springs  which  decrease  or  increase  their  flow  as  the 
water  comes  to  them.  God's  river  flows  from  an  ocean 
and  can  never  lack  water. 

Every  Christian  man  and  woman  who  is  what  he 
or  she  ought  to  be  is  a  river  of  grace.  Where  is  your 
river?  You  are  more  like  a  little  trickle,  some  of  you; 
and  sometimes  you  can  hardly  find  that.  Your  soul 
gets  to  such  a  low  level  sometimes  that  you  are  hardly 
a  trickle. 

Oh!  to  get  in  touch  with  His  ocean,  that  out  of  us 
may  flow  rivers  of  His  blessing. 

Jesus  spoke  of  the  rivers;  He  referred  to  the 
Spirit.  The  Ascension  gift  of  Christ  to  His  people 
was  the  Spirit — the  Holy  Ghost  to  come  and  dwell 
in  His  people  as  a  living  force,  as  a  presence.  The 
Holy  Spirit  is  the  executive  of  the  Godhead. 

I  wonder  if  you  know  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  wonder 
if  He  is  in  you.  I  wonder  if  you  are  a  temple  for 
the  Holy  Ghost.  I  wonder  if  you  know  that  you  are 
not  your  own,  that  you  are  a  temple  for  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  dwell  in.  You  are  a  church  member.  Is  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  you?  Wouldn't  it  make  a  difference  if 
all  the  church  members  in  your  city  were  to  be  filled 
with  the  Spirit? 

I  wonder  what  would  happen  if  Paul  came  to  preach 


IF  ANY  MAN  THIRST  71 

in  some  of  the  churches.  One  of  the  first  things  he 
would  do  would  be  to  put  his  finger  on  the  pulse  of 
the  church  and  diagnose  what  is  wrong  with  it,  and 
one  of  the  first  things  he  would  ask  would  be  this  :  ''Did 
you  receive  the  Holy  Ghost  when  you  believed  ?"  And 
the  church,  if  it  was  honest,  would  have  to  answer,  as 
did  Paul's  congregation,  ''We  haven't  heard  of  Him." 

We  don't  honour  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  don't  give 
Him  a  chance.  He  is  absolutely  crowded  out  of  the 
church  Hfe.  Some  of  us  don't  want  him  there.  We 
think  we  wouldn't  get  our  way  as  much  as  we  do — 
and  we  wouldn't. 

The  Spirit-filled  person  is  mighty  in  the  hands  of 
God. 

I  saw  during  the  Welsh  revival  a  girl  in  her  teens, 
who  went  to  a  certain  little  town  in  the  Rhonda  Val- 
ley, and  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  made 
the  channel  of  blessing  to  the  people  of  the  neighbour- 
hood. That  little  town  was  so  shaken  that  the 
London  papers  had  to  take  notice  of  the  revival  there. 

Hundreds  of  miners  were  being  converted  each  day. 
The  girl,  who  was  so  young  that  her  mother  was 
afraid  to  tell  her  age,  although  she  appeared  to  be 
older,  had  no  great  education  and  no  great  power  of 
oratory,  but  she  was  a  witness  of  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  Jesus  Christ. 

And  the  people  were  converted  because  Christ  was 
honoured. 

A  Great  London  daily  sent  a  representative  down 
to  see  that  girl.  He  said  to  her,  "Where  do  you 
come  from?" 

"From  the  City  of  Destruction,"  she  said. 


72  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

"Where  are  you  going?"  she  was  asked. 

"I  am  going  to  Heaven/*  she  answered. 

"Where  is  Heaven?" 

"Heaven  is  in  my  heart,"  she  said. 

"What  is  Heaven?" 

"Heaven  is  a  conscience  void  of  offence  toward 
God  and  man."  She  had  got  the  well  of  living  water 
within. 

Have  you  got  it?     Do  you  know  it? 

"If  any  man  thirsteth,  let  him  come  unto  me  and 
drink,  and  he  that  cometh  to  me  out  of  him  shall 
flow  rivers." 

Oh !  men  and  women,  listen !  It  is  through  God  you 
^  see  it  in  this  Gipsy  boy.  I  have  glorified  Christ  this 
morning.  I  have  magnified  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
this  morning.  This  is  not  the  product  of  the  schools 
or  the  universities  or  the  professors.  It  is  a  little 
Gipsy  boy  who  came  to  the  fountains  of  Jesus  and 
drank,  and  the  world  is  finding  the  stream.  That  is 
all.     Surely  you  can  drink  like  that. 

Oh !  thirsty  heart,  come  and  drink !  And  then  open 
up  the  flood-gates,  draw  back  the  lock-gates,  and  let 
God's  tide  come.  And  you  will  have  frictionless  mo- 
tion. Frictionless  motion — that  is  a  great  expression. 
And  you  will  have  perpetual  motion  and  God  will  be 
glorified  and  you  will  be  enriched. 

Come  and  drink !  Listen !  Some  of  you  are  carry- 
ing a  tremendous  responsibility  because  God  put  a 
bigger  deposit  in  you  than  in  me  and  he  expects  a 
bigger  return.  Some  of  you  have  got  bigger  social 
positions  than  I,  and  can  do  more  for  the  social  world. 
Some  of  you  are  of  greater  commercial  importance 


IF  ANY  MAN  THIRST  73 

than  I,  and  should  stand  for  the  ideals  of  Christ  in 
the  business  world.  Don't  forget  to  make  use  of  the 
opportunities  God  has  given  you.  Make  use  of  that 
position  in  society,  make  use  of  your  education.  Make 
use  of  everything  God  has  given  you  to  the  fullest 
extent  and  for  the  greatest  glory  of  the  Son  of  God. 

And  out  of  you  shall  flow  a  river,  that  will  enrich 
somebody.  Make  some  garden  bloom  again,  some 
waterless  desert  blossom  as  the  Garden  of  the  Cord. 

Oh!  Get  a  drink  this  morning.  Get  a  drink  of 
this  limpid,  fresh,  refreshing,  life-giving  stream! 

"I  came  to  Jesus  and  I  drank 

Of  that  life-giving  stream; 
My  thirst  was  quenched,  my  soul  revived, 

And  now  I  live  in  Him." 


XI 

WHO  HATH  BELIEVED  OUR  REPORT? 

Isaiah    53:1. — "Who    hath   believed    our    report?      And   to 
whom  is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  revealed?" 

The  lasting  effect  on  your  heart  will  determine 
whether  you  are  really  and  truly  born  again.  I  want 
to  say  a  little  more  about  that,  but  I  want  to  tell  you 
where  that  picture  is  really  seen  in  the  Scriptures.  It 
is  in  the  53rd  chapter  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah. 

"Who  hath  believed  our  report?  And  to  whom  is 
the  arm  of  the  Lord  revealed?  For  he  shall  grow  up 
before  him  as  a  tender  plant,  and  as  a  root  out  of  a 
dry  ground." 

A  beautiful  thing  in  an  unlikely  place.  A  glorious 
flower  grown  in  poor  soil,  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground. 

"He  hath  no  form  nor  comeliness ;  and  when  we  shall 
see  him,  there  is  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  him." 

And  I  want  to  say  that  to  some  of  you  this  morning 

Jesus  is  not  desirable.     If  He  had  been,  you  would 

have  sought  Him.    There  is  nothing  in  Him  to  attract 

you.      You   know   why,    don't    you?      It    is    because 

your  heart  is  hard  and  your  eyes,  your  spiritual  eyes, 

blind.     As  the  Book  says  in  another  place,  "You  are 

blinded  by  the  god  of  this  world."     You  don't  see 

Jesus,  you  know  you  can  put  a  very  small  thing  over 

your  eyes  and  shut  out  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  you 

don't  see  any  beauty  in  Jesus  or  attraction  in  Jesus. 

74 


WHO  HATH  BELIEVED  OUR  REPORT?      75 

He  does  not  interest  you.  There  Is  no  beauty  in  Him. 
You  don't  desire  Him. 

Listen!  The  first  state  of  the  natural  heart  where 
Christ  is  concerned  is  not  desiring  Him,  and  that  is  a 
desperate  state.  You  are  so  dead  that  you  don't  reahse 
what  Jesus  is.  So  dumb  you  don't  hear  what  Jesus 
says. 

So  careless,  so  indifferent,  so  occupied  with  other 
things,  the  earthly  and  the  perishable,  that  you  don't  see 
the  eternal.  So  occupied  with  man  and  mankind  that 
you  don't  see  the  Divine.  The  spiritual  is  dead  and 
paralysed  that  you  don't  see  Jesus.  You  know  you 
can  stand  near  a  beautiful  flower  and  never  behold  it. 
You  can  stand  close  to  a  beautiful  piece  of  music  and 
never  hear  it. 

You  can  stand  close  to  a  beautiful  painting  and 
have  no  soul  for  it  and  no  mind  to  perceive  and  con- 
ceive the  glory  and  beauty  of  that  canvas. 

A  lady,  once  looking  at  one  of  Turner's  master- 
pieces, turned  to  the  great  artist  and  said,  '*Why,  I 
really  don't  see  anything  in  it."  And  he  replied, 
''Don't  you  wish  you  could?"  And  there  are  some  of 
you  looking  at  Jesus  that  way  but  He  does  not  interest 
you.  You  think  of  the  cross,  but  it  does  not  interest 
you.  You  think  of  the  life  and  the  death  and  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus,  but  it  does  not  interest  you.  You 
think  of  life  and  death,  but  they  do  not  interest  you. 
You  are  so  taken  up  with  the  trinkets  of  earth,  the 
playthings  of  time,  the  things  you  can  handle.  Listen, 
no  desire — no  desire  for  Jesus.  Can  this  be  the  state 
of  your  soul?  Oh,  man,  oh,  woman  immortal,  this 
morning !    No  desire  for  the  Son  of  God.    And  that's 


76  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

a  description  of  you.  There  is  no  beauty  that  you 
should  desire  Him.  Now,  listen !  You  are  not  going 
to  stay  there.     You  are  going  to  get  worse  or  better. 

If  you  don't  get  better,  if  you  don't  turn  around 
and  desire  Jesus,  you  are  going  to  despise  Jesus. 
That's  the  next  step.  Listen!  No  desire!  He  is 
despised.  And  it  is  written  down  in  God's  book 
against  you.  You  have  positively  witnessed  by  your 
own  language.  You  did  not  desire  Him,  then  you  des- 
pised Him,  and  you  won't  stay  there.  You  will  reject 
Him.  That's  the  third  step.  No  desire  for  Him,  des- 
pise Him  and  reject  Him. 

He  is  a  man  of  sorrows  and  grief,  and  we  hid,  as 
it  were,  our  faces  from  Him.  He  is  despised  and  we 
esteemed  Him  not.  Surely  He  hath  borne  our  griefs. 
Where  are  you?  Where  are  you?  Have  you  no  de- 
sire for  Jesus?  If  you  have  this  morning,  follow  the 
desire. 

Listen!  If  you  have  a  desire  for  better  things,  a 
purer  life,  to  walk  with  God,  to  do  your  duty  as  a 
Christian,  to  round  out  your  life  as  in  the  light  of 
God,  and  to  have  it  count  as  fully  for  goodness  and 
God — that  is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  No  real 
desire  for  good  things  springs  from  the  heart  that  is 
at  enmity  against  God.  I  say  this  to  impress  you 
with  the  fact  that  every  thought  or  hope,  or  desire 
for  a  better  life,  is  the  inbreeding  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
into  your  heart  and  mine. 

"There  is  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  Him. 
He  is  despised  and  rejected."  Have  you  got  into  the 
despised  state?  Did  you  say  before  you  came  to  this 
service  to-day,  *T  don't  believe  in  this  revival ;  I  don't 


WHO  HATH  BELIEVED  OUR  REPORT?      77 

believe  in  this  Gipsy  Smith;  I  don't  beheve  in  this 
movement;  but  I  will  go  and  see  it;  I  v^ill  just  see 
what  they  are  doing  down  there"  ?  Is  that  your  atti- 
tude this  morning?  That's  the  rejecter's  attitude, 
and  you  had  better  been  born  among  the  pigmies  of 
darkest  Africa  than  been  born  in  a  Christian  land. 
Your  Hell  will  be  hotter  than  the  people  who  never 
knew,  and  it  ought  to  be.  That's  equity.  For  you 
will  be  judged  not  as  those  who  never  knew,  but  as 
those  who  did  know  and  refused  to  obey.  Where  are 
you  this  morning? 

Where  are  you?  Listen  to  me!  Will  you  put 
Jesus  in  your  life,  where  He  ought  to  be?  If  you 
do,  lots  of  things  will  have  to  go  out.  If  you  do, 
you  will  stop  going  to  some  places  you  go  to  now. 
If  Jesus  is  to  be  enthroned  in  your  heart  and  life, 
you  will  stop  doing  some  things  that  you  have  been 
doing  and  if  Jesus  Christ  comes  into  your  life,  those 
things  will  stop. 

Listen!  Here  is  a  little  text  to  take  home  with 
you.  "She  that  liveth  in  pleasure  is  dead,  while  she 
liveth."  That's  God's  word.  Don't  forget  that.  And 
when  Jesus  comes  into  your  life,  my  sister,  my  brother, 
you'll  want  to  do  what  He  wants,  because  you  lose 
the  desire  for  the  other  things.  You  won't  want  the 
world. 

A  society  woman  in  one  of  your  beautiful  cities 
attended  every  one  of  my  meetings  some  time  ago. 
I  saw  her  sitting  there,  night  after  night,  and  one  night 
she  sat  close  to  me.  When  the  meeting  came  to  the 
place  where  the  cards  of  decision  were  being  signed, 
I  held  a  card  to  her  myself  and  said,  "Won't  you  sign 


78  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

that  for  Jesus'  sake?"  And  she  looked  up  and  her 
eyes  filled  with  tears  and  she  said,  ''Yes,  yes,  I  will 
sign  it  for  Jesus'  sake."  She  did  it,  and  the  next 
morning  she  called  me  up  on  the  phone  and  she  said, 
"Can  I  come  and  see  you?"  I  said  "Yes."  She 
came.  She  said  in  ten  days  from  then  she  was  to 
have  a  bridge  party  at  her  house.  "What  am  I  to 
do  about  it?  Am  I  to  call  it  off?"  I  said,  "No,  it 
is  too  good  an  opportunity.  Don't  you  call  it  off." 
I  said,  "Let  them  all  come,  and  give  them  the  best 
meal  that  you  gave  at  any  party  in  your  life,  and 
when  you  have  given  them  your  meal,  then  tell  them 
of  your  conversion.  I  will  pray  for  you."  She  said, 
"Good,  I  will  do  that." 

She  came  to  see  me  again  before  the  party  came  off. 
When  I  met  her  in  the  room  I  said,  "How  are  you 
this  morning?"  She  said,  "Sky  high;  they  are  all 
coming.  They  don't  know  what  they  are  coming  for, 
but  they  are  all  coming." 

That  day  was  Tuesday.  I  was  preaching  and  I 
was  praying  for  that  woman,  and  those  society  people 
assembled,  and  the  next  morning  before  I  went  down 
to  breakfast  my  phone  rang,  and  when  she  said,  "Do 
you  know  who  it  is?"  I  said,  "Yes,  Sky  High."  And 
I  said,  "How  are  you?"  and  she  answered,  "Sky 
higher."  She  said,  "I  told  those  people  Jesus  had 
saved  me  and  they  put  their  arms  around  me,  and 
expressed  the  wish  that  they  might  possess  the  same 
courage." 

People  know  when  they  meet  those  who  are  real. 
They  know  and  they  admire  the  man  or  woman  who 
takes  the  stand  with  Jesus  Christ.     That's  the  secret 


WHO  HATH  BELIEVED  OUR  REPORT?      79 

of  the  heart  of  the  man  and  the  woman  who  follows 
Christ. 

You  look  at  that  dear  Christ,  as  He  hangs  there, 
bleeding  for  you,  dying  for  you,  and  you'll  hear  Him 
say,  "I  suffered  this  for  you.  I  gave  my  life  for  you. 
What  hast  thou  given  me?  What  hast  thou  done  for 
me?" 

Listen!  After  all,  what  are  the  perishing  things 
of  earth  compared  with  the  things  of  eternity?  **Be- 
gone,  vain  world,  thou  hast  no  charm  for  me."  And 
I  tell  you  this  morning  that  the  world  with  all  its 
glitter,  with  all  its  pomp  and  with  all  its  pride  is 
empty.  It  is  empty,  and  if  all  of  it  were  laid  at  my  feet 
without  Jesus,  my  life  would  be  worthless  without  Him, 
absolutely  worthless,  and  I  don't  know  where  I  would 
go  to  hide  myself  or  lay  my  tired  head  or  my  heart  if 
I  had  not  Christ. 

I  don't  know  what  I  would  do  if  I  had  not  Jesus. 
The  world — I  am  spoiled  for  the  world.  I  have 
sounded  its  depths.  I  have  tried  to  scale  its  heights, 
and  I  want  to  say  to  you  this  morning,  after  travelling 
the  world  and  touching  five  continents,  and  looking 
into  the  faces  of  more  people  than  any  living  man, 
Jesus  for  me!  And  life  would  be  worthless  without 
Him,  and  I  don't  know  how  to  exist  without  Christ. 
Take  Him  into  your  life  this  morning.  Take  Him 
into  your  heart  this  morning.  Open  the  door;  let 
Him  in. 

A  lady  friend  of  mine  who  has  a  lovely  little  boy, 
took  him  to  see  Holman  Hunt's  great  picture,  ''The 
Light  of  the  World,"  and  she  described  the  picture  to 
that  child's  mind  as  well  as  she  could :  Jesus  standing 


80  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

there  with  a  latch  in  His  hand,  knocking  at  the  door. 
She  then  said,  "You  know,  darHng,  Jesus  is  trying 
to  get  in  there,  and  the  people  behind  it  must  lift  the 
latch,  and  He  cannot  get  in  until  the  people  behind  the 
door  lift  the  latch  and  then  open  the  door.  That's 
what  he's  waiting  for.  One  of  these  days  Jesus  will 
knock  at  your  door  like  that,  and  when  He  knocks 
you'll  let  Him  in,  won't  you  ?  You  will  open  the  door 
and  let  Him  into  your  heart."  And  the  child  an- 
swered: "Mother  dear,  I  have  never  closed  the  door 
against  Him." 

Oh!  If  we  could  all  say  that.  I  will  never  close 
the  door  against  Him.  Listen,  men  and  women,  aren't 
you  ashamed  of  yourselves  this  morning  to  think  of 
the  times  you  closed  the  door  in  His  dear  face  ?  Don't 
you  loathe  yourselves  this  morning  that  you  ever 
dosed  the  door  in  His  face?  I  could  weep  for  you. 
Oh !  I  do  thank  God  I  let  Him  into  my  heart  when 
I  was  a  boy,  and  I  have  never  closed  the  door  against 
Him.    God  help  you  to  let  Him  in  this  morning. 


XII 
THERE  SHALL  YE  SEE  HIM 

Mark  i6:y. — ''But  go  your  way,  tell  His  disciples  and  Peter 
that  He  goeth  before  you  into  Galilee :  there  shall  ye 
see  Him,  as  He  said  unto  you." 

If  we  could  go  back  to  the  faith  of  the  cradle, 
wouldn't  it  make  a  great  difference  ? 

If  I  could  fill  your  eyes  with  Stardust  and  just  make 
you  believe  in  fairies  again,  if  I  could  bring  you  back 
to  the  simplicity  of  your  cradle  hope  and  faith, 
wouldn't  it  be  heavenly? 

The  trouble  with  us  is  that  we  have  drifted  away 
from  the  faith  in  God,  from  His  love,  and  from  His 
presence.  You  have  given  it  away.  And  what  have 
you  in  the  place  of  it?  You  have  money.  Well,  what 
can  it  do  for  you  ? 

Can  it  dry  a  tear?  Not  a  tear.  Can  it  cure  you  of 
that  pain  in  your  heart?  Not  a  pain.  Can  it  change 
your  sombre  garments?  Can  it  split  the  slab  of  the 
cemetery?  Can  it  open  the  grave?  No.  It  is 
impotent. 

It  stands  useless  before  tears,  heartache,  suffering 
and  death.  Why,  you  can't  get  even  new  digestive  or- 
gans with  it,  and  some  of  you  would  give  a  lot  for 
that.     You  can't  get  an  appetite  with  it. 

A  friend  of  mine,  the  daughter  of  a  millionaire  in 

my  own  country,  was  sick.    She  had  no  appetite.    The 

81 


82  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

doctors  were  unable  to  diagnose  her  case.  She  was 
sent  to  the  South  of  France  and  from  there  she  wrote 
to  a  friend  of  hers  who  showed  me  the  letter.  She 
wrote:  "Here  am  I,  in  the  midst  of  the  songs  of 
birds,  and  in  the  midst  of  flowers;  the  skies  are  blue, 
the  air  is  full  of  sunshine.  There  is  everything  here 
to  make  life  happy.  If  I  could  only  find  an  appetite 
I  think  I  could  get  better." 

You  may  starve  in  the  midst  of  plenty.  You  may 
be  decked,  yes,  positively  decked,  with  diamonds,  and 
you  may  live  in  a  magnificent  building  that  you  call 
a  home,  you  may  ride  in  a  luxurious  car  but  your  soul 
is  a  pauper  because  you  have  not  faith  in  God. 

Listen!  The  thing  which  your  soul  needs  is  ac- 
quaintance with  God.  If  you  could  bring  yourself 
back  to  the  cradle,  so  you  would  be  willing  to  say : 

"Gentle  Jesus,  meek  and  mild, 

Look  upon  a  little  child; 

Pity  my  simplicity, 

Help  me.  Lord,  to  come  to  Thee. 

Fain  I  would  to  Thee  be  brought. 
Dearest  God,  forbid  me  not; 
In  the  Kingdom  of  Thy  grace 
Give  a  little  child  a  place." 

If  I  could  get  you  to  pray  that  prayer,  you  would 
be  a  man  again,  you  would  be  a  woman  again.  Your 
soul  could  soar  intO'  the  realms  of  God.  Come  back 
to  your  cradle  faith.  The  world  can't  give  it  to  you. 
The  schools  can't  give  it  to  you.  The  scholars  haven't 
got  it. 


THERE  SHALL  YE  SEE  HIM  83 

Vain  philosophies  and  the  philosophy  of  men  won't 
help  you.  You  have  got  to  come  back  as  Peter  came 
to  the  place  of  rectifying  and  pardon. 

I  sometimes  wonder  if  Peter  would  have  become  the 
apostle  he  became  afterwards  if  Jesus  hadn't  said, 
"And  Peter."  Peter  knew  the  torture  of  saying,  "I 
don't  know  Him."  And  as  he  went  out  Jesus  looked 
at  him  as  if  to  say,  ^'^Don't  you  know  me,  Peter?  You 
were  present  at  the  opening  of  the  eyes  of  the  blind 
man;  you  were  present  with  me  when  I  raised  your 
wife's  mother  from  the  fever.  Peter — Peter — don't 
you  know  me  ?"  No.  He  didn't  tantalise  Peter,  when 
Peter's  heart  was  already  broken. 

And  do  you  know,  Jesus  is  ever  loath  to  condemn 
those  who  deny  Him.  He  is.  He  knows  the  struggle 
every  soul  has,  the  fight  that  goes  on  in  the  arena  of 
every  man's  private  life. 

Have  you  ever  thought  about  Peter  and  Judas? 
There  is  not  very  much  difference.  One  sold  Him  for 
thirty  pieces  of  silver,  the  other  denied  Him.  Sup- 
pose Judas  had  come  back  with  Peter  ?  I  wonder  what 
would  have  happened  ?  I  have  faith  enough  to  believe 
that  if  Judas  had  come  back  with  Peter,  Jesus  would 
have  forgiven  Him  and  cleansed  his  heart.  And  re- 
member, Jesus  did  wash  his  feet.  If  he  had  come 
back  in  penitence  he  would  have  washed  his  heart. 

If  Judas  had  only  had  sense  enough  to  come  back. 
I  say  that  because  I  want  every  man  and  every  woman 
here  to  feel,  I  don't  care  how  big  or  how  black  your 
sins,  that  Jesus  will  open  His  arms  if  you  come. 

Jesus  said  to  Simon  Peter,  "Simon,  lovest  thou  me?" 
You  know  the  interview.     I  wish  you  would  let  your 


84  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

soul  have  that  kind  of  a  little  talk  with  Jesus  this 
morning. 

And  to  show  you  how  wonderfully  Jesus  forgives, 
He  made  Peter  the  chief  spokesman  at  the  first  great 
Pentecostal  service. 

Jesus  wants  you,  my  brother,  and  you,  my  sistei. 
He  wants  to  speak  through  your  personality.  Will  you 
let  Him,  or  will  you  disappoint  Him?  He  wanted 
Peter.  Go  and  tell  Peter.  I  want  Peter.  Peter  is 
to  be  a  fisher  of  men.  Tell  Peter  I  want  him.  And  I 
tell  you  He  wants  you.    Will  you  respond  to  Him? 

Will  you  say,  "Lord  Jesus,  here's  my  life,  here's  my 
reputation,  my  position,  here's  my  money,  here's  my 
social  standing,  here's  my  business,  here's  my  all,  take 
me  as  I  am.  Flood  me,  drench  me  with  Thy  Spirit, 
so  that  the  world  may  praise  God  through  me." 

There  are  men  and  women  listening  to  me  this 
morning  who  could  help  God  save  the  world  if  they 
were  fully  consecrated. 

I  looked  into  the  face  of  a  beautiful  woman  this 
morning  and  said,  "God  has  given  you  that  face  and 
that  body  and  that  personality.  What  have  you  done 
for  him  ?"  He  will  say  to  you  all :  "What  hast  thou 
done  with  these  gifts  for  me?  I  bestowed  these  things 
upon  you  that  you  might  help  save  the  world  for  which 
I  died." 

Will  you  meet  a  disappointed  Christ  some  day? 
Suppose  Peter  had  said,  "No,  I  won't  go  to  Galilee; 
I  won't  meet  my  Lord."  You  would  never  have  read 
of  Peter  any  more  after  the  Crucifixion.  All  you 
know  about  Judas  was  that  he  went  out  and  hung 
himself,  and  Peter,  if  he  had  not  gone  back  to  Jesus, 


THERE  SHALL  YE  SEE  HIM  85 

might  have  done  the  same  thing.  But  the  world  was 
enriched  because  Peter  went  to  meet  his  Lord. 

You  are  making  history  now  just  Hke  Peter.  You 
are  being  made  to  think  and  feel  of  the  things  of 
Christ.     What  are  you  going  really  to  do? 

My  dear  friend,  you  had  better  never  have  felt  the 
power  of  Christ  or  have  heard  these  things  you  are 
hearing  in  these  days  and  then  drift  back  to  the  old 
way  of  feeling,  to  the  old  doubt,  the  old  bondage. 
May  God  help  you  to  be  wiUing  in  this  day  of  His 
power. 

Great  things  are  possible  for  you,  if  you  will  only 
obey  the  light  and  lift  up  the  standard.  Get  down 
before  your  Lord  to-day.  And  if  anything  in  your 
life  wants  straightening  out,  like  Peter's,  He  will 
straighten  it  out  and  then  say,  "Feed  my  sheep." 

And  the  things  that  He  would  put  into  your  life  will 
be  of  the  quahty  and  quantity  you  can  pass  on  to  those 
around  you  who  are  perishing.  And  the  word  of  the 
Lord  will  go  out  of  you  and  there  will  be  a  Pentecost 
somewhere  near  you,  through  you,  and  you  will  be 
able  to  say  to  the  crippled,  the  lame,  and  the  man  in 
need,  'In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  rise 
up  and  walk."  For  in  His  name  you  may  claim  the 
same  power  and  work  the  same  miracles  which  Peter 
did,  if  you  are  as  obedient  as  he. 

Meet  Jesus  in  Galilee.  Obey  Him.  Listen  to  Him. 
Open  your  heart  to  Him.  Let  Him  have  His  way 
with  you.    Woe  be  unto  you  if  you  don't  obey. 

For  Jesus  said  unto  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ''Woe 
unto  you,  ye  generation  of  vipers,  how  shall  you  escape 
the  damnation  of  hell?" 


86  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

The  tender  Christ  said  that. 

You  have  got  a  great  chance.  God  help  you  to  use 
it.  Jesus  is  in  your  city.  He  is  speaking  to  you.  And 
he  is  speaking  to  the  city.  Bow  before  Him  and  say, 
''Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant  heareth."  And  when 
He  speaks,  answer  again,  *'Be  it  according  to  Thy 
word." 

Again  I  say.  Come  back  to  the  simphcity  of  child- 
hood and  you  will  find  your  mother's  God,  your 
mother's  Christ  and  your  mother's  joy. 

You  know  it  isn't  a  new  Bible  you  want.  It  is  no 
new  church  you  want.  I  have  been  receiving  letters 
from  people.  They  say  they  want  a  new  church,  a 
new  Bible,  a  new  programme.  Well,  listen!  Who  is 
to  write  the  new  Bible — the  people  who  criticise  it?  I 
say  yes — if  they  die  and  rise  again  in  three  days. 
You  go  and  die  on  a  cross  and  rise  in  three  days  and 
walk  about  and  I  will  let  you  write  the  new  Bible. 

And  you  say  a  new  Church.  Who  is  to  give  us  the 
new  Church?  If  you  who  criticise  it  do,  you  will 
have  a  theatre  on  one  side  and  a  dance  hall  and  a 
jazz  band  playing  in  the  basement.  Oh,  no;  I  object. 
I  believe  it  must  be  founded  by  Christ. 

Do  you  need  a  new  gospel  ?  No.  That  is  not  neces- 
sary. I  will  tell  you  what  is  necessary.  Eyes  to  see 
and  hearts  to  believe  and  then  your  mother's  Bible  and 
Church  will  be  good  enough  for  you. 

Come  back  to  the  cradle  faith.  Again  I  say,  if  I 
could  fill  your  eyes  with  Stardust  we  would  have 
Heaven  here  below.  Lord,  bring  us  back  to  our  simple 
childhood  and  mother's  faith.  Give  us  back  our  faith 
in  God,  our  faith  in  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  our 


THERE  SHALL  YE  SEE  HIM  87 

faith  in  the  Holy  Bible  and  in  the  Holy  Church,  the 
Bride  of  the  Lamb. 

I  have  heard  it  sung  sometimes,  "All  I  want  is  a 
little  more  faith  in  Jesus."  Don't  you  feel  that  is 
true? 

I  wonder  if  there  is  any  one  here  that  doesn't  pray 
for  more  faith.  I  will  tell  you  how  to  get  it.  Use 
what  you  have  got. 

If  a  man  wants  a  stronger  muscle  he  has  to  use 
his  arm.  If  he  wants  to  be  athletic  he  must  take 
plenty  of  exercise.  If  he  wants  to  ride  a  bicycle,  he 
must  go  forward,  for  if  he  stands  still,  he  will  tumble. 
There  is  no  standing  still  on  a  bicycle.  And  listen, 
if  a  man  wants  faith  in  God,  he  must  use  it.  And 
every  man,  woman,  boy  or  girl  has  got  the  capacity 
for  believing  or  Jesus  would  never  have  said,  "Have 
faith  in  God." 

You  have  faith  in  the  seat  you  are  sitting  in.  You 
saw  those  seats  and  you  had  faith  that  they  would 
bear  you  up,  and  you  sat. 

And  if  you  will  just  believe  in  God  like  that,  He 
will  bear  you  up  too.  Just  step  out  on  the  promise. 
He  holds  the  world  in  His  hands,  and  He  will  hold 
you,  and  if  you  feel  yourself  a  poor  sinner  this  morn- 
ing, he  is  strong  enough  to  keep  you  from  falling. 

I  was  preaching  in  the  Rhonda  Valley  during  the 
revival  in  Wales,  when  I  was  the  guest  of  a  local 
magistrate.  I  sat  at  my  table  reading  my  mail;  my 
table  was  near  a  window  which  looked  out  over  the 
valley,  the  little  valley  nestling  below.  I  could  see 
through  the  falling  snow  the  outline  of  one  of  those 
beautiful  Welsh  mountains  beyond  the  valley. 


88  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

I  was  reading  a  letter  from  a  man  who  had  heard 
me  preach  three  months  before  in  another  city,  and  had 
been  convicted  of  his  life  of  sin,  and  who  now  wrote: 

"Every  time  I  look  at  my  family,  my  double  life 
haunts  me  like  a  ghost.  I  have  abandoned  my  sinful 
living,  but  I  have  found  no  rest.  I  am  writing  to 
ask  you  if  you  think  God  will  have  mercy  on  a  poor 
wretch  like  me." 

I  laid  the  letter  down  to  think  and  while  thinking  I 
watched  the  falling  snow.  As  I  did  so,  I  seemed  to  see 
a  snowflake  pause  in  mid-air  and  thought  I  heard  it 
say  to  the  mountain  in  front  of  me,  "Oh,  mighty 
mountain,  I  am  only  a  little  snowflake  and  I  want  a 
resting  place;  if  I  fall,  can  you  bear  me?"  Then  I 
thought  I  heard  the  old  mountain  rumble  out  of  the 
eternities  and  say,  "Little  snowflake,  I  have  my  roots 
in  eternity  and  underneath  me  are  the  everlasting  arms. 
If  you  want  a  resting  place,  fall  on  me,  and  see  if  I 
can  bear  a  snowflake." 

I  then  penned  my  little  parable  on  paper  and  sent  it 
to  my  friend  in  the  distant  city.  The  next  day  I  re- 
ceived a  telegram  from  him  in  which  he  said,  "Thank 
God,  I  am  on  the  mountain  and  it  bears." 

Can  a  mountain  bear  a  snowflake,  can  an  ocean 
bear  a  bubble?  Don't  ask  can  God  save  you.  Have 
sense  to  let  Him. 

Just  step  out  on  His  omnipotence.  And  you  will 
find  the  thrill  of  a  new  heart,  a  new  life  in  Christ 
Jesus.  God  grant  it  may  be  so  just  now.  Oh,  have 
faith  in  God.    Amen! 


XIII 
THE  UNSEARCHABLE  RICHES  OF  CHRIST 

Ephesians  3 : 8. — ''Unto  me,  who  am  less  than  the  least  of  all 
saints,  is  this  grace  given,  that  I  should  preach  among 
the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ." 

Now  this  is  a  big  subject,  and  instead  of  fifteen 
minutes  I  should  like  to  have  fifteen  hours,  because  you 
have  a  continent  to  explore.  I  can  only  bring  you  a 
leaf  from  the  forest,  just  to  let  you  see  something  of 
the  foliage  of  the  wonderful  and  the  glorious  posses- 
sions which  God  has  for  those  who  are  interested  and 
believe  and  love  Him.  I  can  only  bring  you  a  tiny 
flower,  just  one  from  the  garden  to  show  the  tropical 
splendours  of  the  Lord's  garden,  just  a  tiny  feather 
from  the  wing  of  a  little  bird,  to  let  you  see  some- 
thing of  the  plumage  of  the  feathered  tribe  of  this 
wonderful,  unexplored,  inexhaustible,  boundless  inheri- 
tance to  which  you  and  I  are  called  in  Jesus  Christ. 
"The  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ." 

To  be  practical,  what  does  it  mean  for  you  and 
for  me?  If  you  will  read  the  14th  verse  you  will 
see  what  Paul  says :  "For  this  cause  I  bow  my  knees 
unto  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  the 
whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is  named,  that  he 
would  grant  you,  according  to  the  riches  of  his  glory, 
to  be  strengthened  with  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the 


89 


90  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

I  pray  that  you  may  be  given,  according  to  the  riches 
of  grace,  to  be  strong  in  the  Lord.  This  means  that 
you  may  be  strong,  round,  full-orbed,  robust,  glorious, 
beautiful,  strengthened  by  His  spirit  in  the  inner  man, 
as  beautiful  as  a  bunch  of  roses  on  a  June  morning, 
as  glorious  and  as  sweet  as  a  field  of  clover  on  a  May 
day,  as  fresh  and  invigorating  and  life-giving,  as  attrac- 
tive as  a  spring  morning  fresh  as  it  bursts  from  eter- 
nity, as  full  of  music  as  the  woods  are  full  of  song. 
"Strengthened  with  all  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the  inner 
man." 

That  is  Paul's  prayer :  that  God  may  give  you  and 
me  from  the  riches  of  His  glory  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

Has  that  prayer  been  answered  for  you?  Are  you 
strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  His  might? 
Are  you  anchored  steady,  firmly  fixed  in  the  Lord,  and 
in  the  power  of  His  might  ?  Are  you  firmly  fixed  on 
the  Rock  of  Ages  ?  Is  your  face  toward  the  hill-tops  ? 
Are  you  as  strong  as  a  mountain,  and  as  fresh  as  the 
morning,  strong  in  the  Lord,  in  the  inner  man  ?  This 
is  one  of  the  riches  of  His  grace. 

Once  the  fathomless  wealth  of  these  riches  gets  into 
your  soul,  do  you  suppose  you  can  hide  it?  You  will 
be  like  the  man  who  was  converted  in  one  of  my 
meetings  some  time  ago,  at  a  noon  service.  He  was  so 
full  of  his  new  joy  that  he  went  home  after  the  meet- 
ing instead  of  going  to  his  place  of  business.  As  he 
went  from  the  meeting,  he  told  me  that  he  was  glori- 
ously saved  and  he  was  going  home  to  his  family.  I 
said,  "You  will  tell  them  about  it,  when  you  get  home  ?'* 
He  replied.  "I  shall  not  say  anything  about  it.''    "You 


THE  UNSEARCHABLE  RICHES  OF  CHRIST     91 

won't,"  I  said.  "No,"  he  replied.  "Do  you  know  you 
are  converted?"  I  asked.  "Yes.  I  am  confident,"  he 
repHed.  "Very  well,"  I  said,  "go  home  and  keep  quiet 
if  you  can."  What  do  you  think  he  did  when  he  got 
home?  He  did  what  he  had  never  done  before  in  all 
his  married  life;  he  went  into  the  cellar  and  chopped 
up  all  the  wood  he  could  find,  to  the  surprise  of  his 
wife  and  daughter,  then  he  filled  all  the  scuttles  with 
coal,  and  when  he  found  nothing  else  to  do  he  shouted 
to  his  wife,  "Mary,  do  you  want  any  potatoes  from 
the  barn?"  Mary  said,  "John,  what  is  the  matter?" 
And  he  said,  "I  am  converted." 

The  riches  of  His  grace  will  come  out.  You  cannot 
hide  the  sun  at  noon-day. 

Here  is  another  thing.  If  the  riches  of  His  grace 
are  to  dwell  in  you  richly,  you  must  be  rooted  and 
grounded  in  the  love  of  Christ.  If  your  roots  are  in 
Christ,  the  fruit  will  be  there.  You  know  you  always 
know  a  rose-tree,  if  it  is  alive,  because  it  bears  roses. 
Men  do  not  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles, 
and  if  you  are  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  love  of 
Christ,  there  will  be  the  fruits  of  grace  coming  out  of 
your  life,  out  of  your  mouth,  out  of  your  hands,  out 
of  your  feet,  out  of  your  whole  deportment.  You 
will  have  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  which  are  love,  joy, 
peace,  patience,  long-suffering,  forgiveness. 

When  I  was  a  gipsy  boy,  and  my  father  pitched  his 
tent  in  the  summer-time,  I  would  not  be  there  many 
minutes  before  I  had  a  garden.  I  would  get  a  stake 
out  of  the  hedge  and  I  would  dig  up  a  little  space,  and 
I  would  gather  primrose  roots  and  violets,  and  such 
things,  and  I  planted  them  all  nicely,  but  it  didn't 


92  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

matter  how  much  water  I  gave  them,  as  soon  as  the 
sun  got  up  and  got  on  the  top  of  them,  they  would 
all  wilt  and  die.  And  why?  They  were  just  stuck 
in  and  had  no  rootage.  And  lots  of  you  are  just  stuck 
in  the  Church  like  that.  You  have  no  roots.  But 
where  you  are  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  love  of 
Christ  there  is  fruit  and  beauty.  There  will  be  no 
doubt  about  your  fruit-bearing  if  your  roots  have 
got  hold  of  the  soil  which  is  provided  by  the  riches  of 
His  grace.  In  the  kingdom  of  His  grace,  the  land  is 
so  wealthy  that  the  fruits  are  plentiful  because  the 
supplies  of  the  wisdom  and  the  love  and  the  fulness 
of  God  are  so  abundant. 

Do  you  think  that  your  life  would  be  what  it  is? 
Oh,  I  know  you're  a  member  of  the  Church.  A  man 
said  to  me  this  morning  in  my  room,  "I  shook  hands 
with  you  last  night;  the  people  who  are  church  mem- 
bers do  just  what  I  do,  and  there  is  no  difference  in 
them,  but  if  I  go  into  the  Church  I  can't  do  that.  I 
can't  do  what  they  do.  My  conscience  won't  let  me.'* 
I  said,  'What  are  you  going  to  do  now?"  He  said, 
*T  am  going  to  get  into  the  Church." 

I  once  heard  Sam  Jones  say  this :  ''You  folks  who 
are  outside  of  the  Church,  when  you  get  inside,  do 
what  you  think  you  would  do  when  you  are  outside, 
when  you  get  in."  There  is  a  bit  of  sanctified  sense 
there;  you  get  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  love  of 
Christ. 

I  want  to  tell  you  that  the  world  is  watching  you, 
that  men  outside  the  Church  have  been  looking  at  you 
Christians  and  have  been  kept  outside  because  of  your 
inconsistency  and  want  of  fruit,  and  the  people  who 


THE  UNSEARCHABLE  RICHES  OF  CHRIST      93 

are  outside  have  been  kept  outside  because  you  don't 
live  as  you  should.  Why  don't  you  alter  your 
methods  ? 

One  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  and  one  of  the  won- 
ders of  grace  and  one  of  the  unexplored  regions  for 
most  of  us,  is  that  God  wants  us  to  have  our  inner 
roots  so  fixed  in  Himself  that  we  shall  draw  from 
Him,  and  the  world  may  know  we  belong  to  Him. 
Listen  to  these  words :  ''Herein  is  My  Father  glori- 
fied, that  ye  bear  much  fruit."  You  prove  your  dis- 
cipleship  by  the  fruits  you  bear  and  so  do  I.  But  to 
bear  fruit  we  must  be  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  love 
of  Christ. 

Here  is  another  thing  that  is  practical  for  you  and 
me  within  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  that  you 
may  be  able  to  grasp  with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth 
and  depth  and  length  and  height.  And  some  of  us,  you 
know,  are  afraid;  we  are  afraid  of  the  depths,  we  are 
afraid  to  get  out  too  deep  into  deep  waters.  We  are 
afraid  of  the  deep  waters,  we  are  timid  about  that. 
We  don't  want  overmuch  religion,  else  So-and-so  or 
Mrs.  So-and-so  will  think  we  are  extreme.  We  want 
just  enough  to  be  respectable,  and  we  don't  want  to 
be  considered  peculiar  or  extreme. 

But  listen.  It  is  the  extreme  people  that  are  useful, 
who  stand  out  as  the  people  of  God.  It  is  the  luke- 
warm that  are  of  no  use,  they  are  a  hindrance.  And 
Jesus  said — you  read  it — He  would  that  we  were 
hot  or  cold,  not  luke-warm.  The  people  who  are  try- 
ing to  avoid  extremes  are  the  people  who  are  the 
curse  to  the  Kingdom  of  God.  ''I  would  thou  wert 
cold  or  hot.     So  then  because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and 


94  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spew  thee  out  of  my  mouth." 
We  ought  to  go  into  the  deep  places.  You  know 
Ezekiel  in  his  visions  of  the  waters,  when  he  saw  the 
water  flowing  from  underneath  the  throne  in  his 
vision,  stepped  in  up  to  his  ankles,  then  up  to  his 
knees,  then  he  got  out  further,  and  it  came  up  to  his 
loins,  then  he  got  out  further  still,  and  it  was  deep 
enough  to  swim  in.  It  was  a  river  of  God.  He  got 
to  the  deep  places.  Some  oi  you  are  up  to  your  knees 
in  the  Church,  you  go  to  Church  once  on  Sunday,  and 
you  have  had  enough  then,  and  you  have  graced  the 
sanctuary  with  your  presence  and  patronized  the 
preacher,  and  made  him  feel  he  ought  to  consider  him- 
self complimented  that  you  were  there.  Poor  deluded 
thing — poor  half-starved  thing,  you  are  only  up  to 
your  ankles.  You  want  to  get  out  a  little  bit  further 
and  understand  what  our  Salvation  Army  friends  call 
Knee  Drill.  Thank  the  Lord  I  saw  my  congregation 
last  night  on  its  knees  and  there  was  no  trouble  to  get 
them  there.  Last  night  the  whole  congregation  knelt 
down  before  God  and  wanted  to  do  it. 

Some  of  you  are  not  only  stiff-necked,  but  stiff- 
kneed.  Some  of  you  haven't  knelt  for  years.  I  tell 
you  what  I  have  noticed  in  Church  when  I  have  gone 
to  worship  sometimes  as  one  of  the  congregation,  to 
pick  up  a  crumb  or  two  for  myself;  the  people,  when 
the  pastor  said,  'Tet  us  pray,"  remained  bolt  upright. 
We  are  losing  reverence  for  God. 

Some  are  up  to  the  loins.  That  means  the  strength 
of  their  manhood  is  Christ's.  Then  there  are  those 
who  are  out  where  they  can  swim  in  it.  They  are  all 
in.    Why  don't  you  get  in  like  that  ?    There  are  depths 


THE  UNSEARCHABLE  RICHES  OF  CHRIST      95 

for  you  church  people  who  are  in  the  shallows.    Go  out 
that  you  may  know  the  heights  and  the  depths. 

I  wonder  if  any  of  you  have  read  of  Mrs.  Margaret 
Bottome,  who  was  the  founder  of  the  King's  Daugh- 
ters in  America.  She  was  the  widow  of  a  godly 
Methodist  preacher.  She  was  a  godly  woman,  a 
mother  in  Israel.  Her  face  was  a  benediction  and  to 
hear  her  pray  was  to  be  lifted  a  little  nearer  to  God. 
I  met  her  the  last  time  at  Ocean  Grove  during  the 
camp  meeting  and  she  came  to  me  and  said,  "I  have 
a  story  to  tell  you.  I  know  you  can  use  it.  I  was 
walking  early  this  morning  on  the  board  walk  and  a 
little  boy  out  there  in  a  boat  who  knew  me  shouted 
out,  'Mrs.  Bottome,  won't  you  get  into  my  boat  and 
have  a  row?'  And  I  looked  back  and  said,  'Yes,  I 
believe  I  will.'  So  I  went  to  the  steps  and  waited 
for  him,  and  I  got  on  the  bottom  step  just  above  the 
water — it  was  a  calm,  beautiful  morning — and  he  came 
along,  and  when  he  came  close  up  and  the  boat  was 
steady,  I  stood  firmly  on  one  foot  and  touched  the 
edge  of  the  boat  with  the  other  foot  (and  Mrs.  Bot- 
tome was  a  full-sized  woman),  I  just  touched  the  edge 
of  the  boat  and  of  course  the  boat  went  out  and  left 
me.  So  the  little  fellow  came  back  again  and  steadied 
his  boat  again  and  then  I  changed  my  foot  and  tried 
the  other  one,  and  of  course  the  boat  went  out  again 
and  left  me,  and  the  little  fellow  scratched  his  head 
and  said,  'Why  don't  you  get  in  all  of  you?'  "  That 
is  it,  get  in  all  of  you.  You  know  you  have  one  foot 
in  the  world  and  you  are  trying  to  keep  one  in  the 
church  and  they  don't  go  very  well  together.  Get  all 
in.    Get  into  the  depths. 


96  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

The  riches  of  His  grace  are  able,  my  brother,  to 
do  all  this  and  more  for  you.  We  need  not  look 
poverty-stricken  and  walk  about  like  old  tramps,  we 
can  look  like  the  children  of  a  King.  We  can  wear 
the  garments  of  praise  and  the  spirit  of  happiness  and 
we  may  be  clothed  like  the  morning  and  our  hearts, 
full  of  praise  to  God. 

God  has  been  doing  these  things  for  some  of  us. 
We  have  been  entering  into  a  new  experience.  We 
have  been  climbing  up  on  higher  ground.  We  have 
been  getting  out  of  the  darkness  into  the  light.  Our 
sighs  have  been  changed  to  songs. 


XIV 
BLESSED  ARE  THE  PURE  IN  HEART 

Matthew   5 :  8. — "Blessed  are  the   pure   in  heart :    for   they 
shall  see  God." 

Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God, 
and  the  pure  heart  is  the  goal  of  Calvary.  The 
pure  heart  is  the  climax  of  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ 
for  you  and  me.  He  can  make  your  heart  and  mind 
pure.  Now,  please  get  that  into  your  minds  and  get 
it  into  your  heart  that  that's  what  He  wants  to  do, 
and  anything  short  of  that  is  dishonouring  Him. 

"A  heart  in  every  thought  renewed, 

And  full  of  love  divine; 
Perfect,  and  right,  and  pure,  and  good, 

A  copy.  Lord,  of  thine." 

*Thy  nature,  gracious  Lord,  impart, 

Come  quickly  from  above, 
Write  thy  new  name  upon  my  heart, 

Thy  new,  best  name  of  Love." 

The  pure  heart  is  what  the  Holy  Spirit  was  given 
to  produce  in  you  and  me.  Listen !  I  will  take  away 
the  stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh  and  I  will  give  you 
a  heart  of  flesh,  and  what  some  of  you  have  this  morn- 
ing is  a  stony  heart. 

I  said  to  a  man  in  one  of  my  services  not  long  ago, 

97 


98  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

"My  brother,  when  will  you  give  your  heart  to  God?'* 
He  said,  "Gipsy  Smith,  I  haven't  got  a  heart.  Mine 
is  only  a  gizzard,"  and,  mind  you,  he  wasn't  trifling. 
He  was  sincere.  He  got  a  vision  of  his  heart,  his  own 
heart,  and  he  was  convinced  how  he  felt  it  to  be.  It 
is  a  gizzard,  and  you  know  what  a  gizzard  is;  it  is  a 
stony  place.  I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart  out  of 
your  flesh.  Your  heart  is  stony,  cold,  lifeless,  selfish, 
corrupt.  The  reason  you  are  vile  outside  is  because 
you  are  vile  inside,  and  God  wants  to  take  your  vile- 
ness  out  by  giving  you  a  clean  heart,  a  pure  heart. 

"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart."  Then  God  can 
make  your  heart  good  and  if  your  heart  is  good,  you 
will  be  good  outside. 

I  have  heard  people  talk  about  some  when  they  do 
wrong,  go  wrong,  break  hearts,  break  up  homes,  wreck 
lives.  I  have  heard  them  say,  "You  know,  he  is  good 
at  heart."  Haven't  you  heard  that?  Why,  it  is  a  lie. 
They  do  these  things  because  they  are  bad  at  heart. 
God  wants  to  put  your  heart  right  and  if  you  start, 
listen  to  me,  if  you  start  anywhere  else,  you  will  start 
at  the  wrong  place.  Get  your  heart  right,  and  God 
wants  to  put  your  heart  right,  and  He  will  and  can 
make  it  good.  Oh,  but  somebody  says,  "I  was  born 
with  a  devil  in  me."  Well,  you  can  be  born  again 
and  this  time  with  the  devil  out.  So  that  is  no  ex- 
cuse. Jesus  undertakes  your  case.  I  was  talking  to 
somebody  the  other  day,  and  he  said,  "I  want  to  be 
good.     But  you  don't  know  how  bad  I  am." 

I  said,  "I  don't  care  how  bad  you  are.  I  know  my 
Master,  and  I  know  He  can  make  you  good.  Haven't 
you  known  Him  to  make  bad  people  good?"     "Yes," 


BLESSED  ARE  THE  PURE  IN  HEART         99 

he  replied,  "I  knew  one  man  He  made  good."  I  said, 
"What  did  He  make  him  good  out  of?"  And  he  said, 
"Nothing."  "Well,"  I  said,  "He  can  make  you  good 
out  of  what  is  left.  Give  Him  a  chance.  All  power  is 
given  unto  Him  in  heaven  and  on  earth;  and  He  can 
make  you  good." 

You  see  the  difference  between  you  and  an  animal 
is  that  you  are  a  moral  agent,  and  God  has  an  asset 
in  you.    He  created  you  in  His  own  image. 

When  I  was  in  France  with  the  boys,  one  after- 
noon, I  was  taking  a  little  walk  just  back  of  the  lines. 
I  had  sought  freedom  from  that  village  just  to  be 
quiet  for  a  few  hours,  to  get  away  from  the  horror, 
from  the  murder  and  the  blood,  and  the  suffering, 
and  the  tears,  and  the  heartaches,  and  the  sights,  that 
tore  my  heart  to  shreds.  I  was  walking  in  one  of 
those  lovely  woods,  those  French  woods,  and  in  the 
centre  of  that  wood,  I  came  across  a  mudhole,  just  a 
little  pool.  If  the  wind  had  been  still  I  could  have 
pitched  a  cracker  across  it,  it  was  so  small  in  circum- 
ference.    The  water  in  it  was  as  black  as  ink. 

All  around  its  sides  it  was  fringed  with  bracken  and 
autumn  tints  and  the  sun  had  cast  that  little  pool,  even 
though  black,  into  a  black  diamond  and  the  surface 
of  that  mudhole  was  covered  with  continents  of 
purity,  handfuls  of  glorious  gems,  and  what  do  you 
think  they  were?  They  were  water  lilies  and  their 
roots  were  in  the  mud.  And  if  God  can  bring  lilies 
out  of  an  inkpot  whose  roots  are  in  black  mud,  if  He 
can  make  little  handfuls  of  purity  enough  to  make 
angels  thrill  to  the  tips  of  their  wings,  He  can  make 
your  heart  pure. 


100  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

Don't  you  doubt  His  power.  Don't  you  doubt  His 
ability.     God  is  almighty. 

Somebody  was  riding  through  the  streets  of  Lon- 
don with  Ruskin,  on  one  occasion — that  great  artist — 
that  great  classic  writer — that  apostle  of  the  truth  long 
before  his  time — and  looking  out  of  the  carriage  (it 
was  raining),  his  companion  said,  ''What  disgusting 
stuff  this  London  mud  is,"  and  Ruskin  replied,  ''Wait; 
there  are  in  this  disgusting  mud,  London  mud,  there 
are  the  soot,  the  sand,  the  lime,  out  of  which  God 
makes  sapphires,  opals,  and  diamonds."  And  if  God 
can  make  sapphires,  opals  and  diamonds  out  of  Lon- 
don mud,  H^  can  make  saints  out  of  the  men  and 
women  in  front  of  me  this  morning.  He  can  make 
within  you  a  pure  heart. 

Again  I  repeat  Wesley,  the  same  words, 

"A  heart  in  every  thought  renewed, 

And  full  of  love  divine; 
Perfect,  and  right,  and  pure,  and  good, 

A  copy,  Lord,  of  Thine." 

But  if  you  want  to  be  like  Him,  you  must  keep  close 
to  Him.  I  know  this  much  about  my  Lord,  if  you  live 
with  Him,  you  will  get  like  Him,  only  keep  close  up 
to  Him.  The  danger  with  us  all  is,  we  follow  a  long 
way  off  from  Him. 

Why,  I  took  an  old  root,  one  day,  an  old  root  out 
of  a  lane  under  the  hedge,  from  the  grassy,  ivy  cov- 
ered bank,  close  to  the  spot  where  my  beloved  mother 
died.  I  wanted  something  in  my  garden  from  that 
sacred  spot  that  was  consecrated  by  her  death.     So  I 


BLESSED  ARE  THE  PURE  IN  HEART   101 

took  some  ivy  and  planted  it  and  it  is  growing  around 
some  of  the  old  stumps  in  the  garden,  and  I  go  and  look 
at  it  till  I  am  a  gipsy  boy  again,  I  am  in  the  lane 
where  I  lost  my  mother. 

And  I  also  took  out  of  that  bank  an  old  root;  it  was 
only  a  root  You  would  not  have  known  what  it  was ; 
a  gardener  would,  a  horticulturist  would  have  known, 
but  the  average  person,  or  persons  who  didn't  know 
gardening  would  have  known  nothing  about  that  root. 
I  took  it  home,  wrapped  up  carefully  in  a  piece  of 
paper.  When  I  got  home  I  took  it  out  of  the  paper, 
and  I  said  to  my  wife,  ''Annie,  come  here,"  and  I 
showed  it  to  her.  And  she  said,  'Took  at  your  fin- 
gers— look  at  your  dirty  fingers.  What  have  you  got 
there — ^that  old  dirty  root?"  And  I  said,  ''Wait  a 
minute,  I  am  going  to  plant  this.  I  won't  tell  you 
what  it  is,  but  I  want  you  to  watch  it  when  I  am 
absent — watch  it  for  my  sake."  I  put  it  underneath 
a  pear  tree,  on  a  little  bit  of  a  bank,  which  I  knew 
would  be  sheltered  from  the  northeast  wind,  but  it 
would  catch  the  first  kisses  of  the  spring  sunshine. 
And  one  day  I  received  a  letter  from  home,  in  April, 
and  my  wife  said,  "Rodney,  you  know  where  you 
planted  that  dirty  old  root,  there's  the  most  lovely 
bunch  of  primroses  you  ever  saw." 

Listen!  the  primroses  were  in  the  root  all  along; 
they  only  wanted  the  sunshine  and  the  atmosphere. 
And  you  don't  know  what  is  in  you.  It  only  needs 
God  to  bring  it  out,  and  make  it  possible  for  the  beau- 
tiful and  noble  and  true.  God  can  make  you  pure  in 
heart.    It  is  all  there. 

Give  God  a  chance  with  you.    The  capacity  is  there. 


102  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

The  wildness  has  got  you  now.  The  wickedness  has 
got  you  now.  The  Devil  is  in  you  now,  the  lying  has 
got  you  now,  the  cheating  has  got  you  now,  the  un- 
clean has  hold  of  you  now.  Let  God  come  and  cast  the 
Devil  out,  and  then  just  as  there  was  a  calm  after  the 
storm,  you  will  know  the  peace  that  comes,  and  just 
as  that  man  was  clothed  and  in  his  right  mind,  and 
stood  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  and  told  his  friends  and 
neighbours  what  great  things  the  Lord  had  done  for 
him,  just  that  kind  of  a  change  will  come  over  you 
when  grace  has  had  her  perfect  work,  and  made  you 
right  and  pure,  and  good,  a  copy — a  copy  of  His  great 
heart. 

Don't  forget  that  God  can  do  it  for  you.  All  things 
are  possible  to  Him. 

I  was  staying  with  a  London  family  some  time  ago. 
You  know  I  pity  folks  who  are  born  surrounded  by 
bricks  and  mortar.  You  know  nothing.  I  positively 
pity  you.  You  people  who  just  see  bricks  and  mortar, 
and  fine  homes,  and  fine  chairs  to  sit  in,  and  money  to 
spend,  and  nothing  but  jazz  and  nonsense,  you  don't 
know  you  were  born.  Come  out  with  me,  and  live  in 
God's  woods  and  I  will  teach  you  a  few  things.  Come 
out  where  the  birds  sing,  where  the  stars  shine,  where 
God's  wind  blows  through  the  brains  and  the  soul, 
where  the  eternities  whisper  the  secrets  of  the  skies  to 
you  and  you  will  learn  things. 

Why,  a  rose — I  never  talk  to  a  rose,  hanging  in  the 
garden,  early  in  the  morning,  without  seeing  a  tear 
in  its  eye,  in  the  form  of  a  dewdrop.  It  is  always 
sympathetic.  God's  flowers — well,  they  are  His 
thoughts  in  colours  and  perfumes.     Somebody  said  to 


BLESSED  ARE  THE  PURE  IN  HEART       103 

me  the  other  day,  "What  do  you  call  a  butterfly?"  I 
replied,  ''God's  flowers  on  the  wing." 

I  was  in  this  home  of  culture — I  took  something  out 
of  my  pocket  and  I  said  to  the  young  people, 
*What  is  that?"  And  one  of  them,  about  fifteen,  said, 
"Why,  that  is  an  onion."  I  replied,  *'No,  it  is  not  an 
onion,  it  is  a  bulb."  If  I  were  to  show  some  of  you 
a  bulb  like  that,  you  would  think  it  was  an  onion. 
That's  about  all  you  know  of  nature.  'It  is  a  bulb,"  I 
said,  and  they  asked,  "A  bulb,  what  is  that?"  I  said, 
"Have  you  a  flower  pot?"  "Yes."  "Get  me  a  flower 
pot."  "Have  you  any  soil  ?"  They  said,  "We  have  some 
in  the  back  yard,"  and  I  said,  "Have  the  pot  filled  with 
soil  and  I  will  plant  that  for  you."  And  I  kept  the 
crown  just  a  tiny  bit  above  the  soil  and  I  dampened  it. 
I  said,  "Keep  that  in  the  dark,  don't  drown  it,  just 
keep  it  damp  and  in  the  dark,  until  you  see  about  half 
an  inch  of  green  above  the  surface  and  then  bring  it 
to  the  light  and  see  what  will  happen."  And  in  time 
I  had  a  letter  saying,  "Oh,  Gipsy  Smith,  we  have  the 
most  lovely  white  hyacinth  you  ever  saw."  Why,  that 
hyacinth  was  in  that  bulb  all  the  while;  it  only  waited 
for  the  power  of  the  water  and  the  soil.  And  the 
power  of  God  co-operating  with  your  soul  will  make  it 
pure  and  beautiful. 

I  wonder  what  you  will  be  when  grace  has  done  her 
perfect  work  in  you — one  thing  I  know,  your  heart  will 
be  pure  and  you  will  see  God.  You  will  be  a  good 
man,  or  a  good  woman,  a  beautiful  soul,  illumined, 
cleansed,  purified,  ennobled,  by  the  incoming  of  the 
son  of  God. 

"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see 


104  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

God."  Listen  to  me !  The  pure  in  heart  see  God  every- 
where. They  see  Him  in  the  face  of  a  little  child, 
they  see  Him  in  the  daisy,  they  see  Him  in  the  dewdrop, 
they  see  Him  in  the  stars,  they  see  Him  in  the  sunbeam, 
in  the  wind  that  caresses  their  brow,  they  see  Him  in 
the  morning  light,  in  the  evening  zephyr  breeze,  yes, 
they  see  Him  everywhere. 

The  pure  in  heart  are  always  looking  for  Him,  don't 
you  see  ?  They  are  looking  for  Him.  Have  you  seen 
God?'  Listen!  You  see  Him  most  in  the  face  of 
Jesus.  And  whosoever  looketh  and  believeth  in  Him, 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live. 

There  is  life  for  a  look  at  the  Crucified  One, 
There  is  Hfe  at  this  moment  for  thee. 

Then  look,  sinner,  look  unto  Him,  and  be  saved, 
Unto  Him  who  was  nailed  to  the  tree. 

If  you  feel  this  morning  your  heart  is  in  need  of 
cleansing,  bring  it  to  your  Lord. 

I  can  see  an  old  Scotchman  now,  seventy-five  years 
old,  walking  down  the  aisle  in  the  granite  city  in  the 
heart  of  Scotland,  Aberdeen.  And  the  whole  length  of 
the  aisle,  as  he  walked,  this  tall,  rugged,  handsome, 
old  man,  was  saying  in  his  broad,  Scotch  brogue,  this 
prayer,  "Give  me  the  heart  of  a  little  child.  Give  me 
the  heart  of  a  little  child."  "Except  ye  be  converted, 
and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into 
the  Kingdom  of  heaven." 

This  message  is  for  you  this  morning.  The  new 
life  demands  a  new  heart  and  if  you  will  come  to  God 
now,  this  moment,  here  and  now,  before  you  leave  this 
building.  He  will  take  the  stonv  heart  out  of  your 


BLESSED  ARE  THE  PURE  IN  HEART       105 

flesh  and  He  will  give  you  the  heart  of  a  little  child. 
"A  new  heart  will  I  give  you  and  I  will  put  my  Spirit 
within  you  and  cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes,  and 
ye  shall  keep  judgments,  and  do  therru'* 


XV 

YE  SHALL  RECEIVE  POWER 

Acts  1 : 8. — "But  ye  shall  receive  power,  after  that  the  Holy- 
Ghost  is  come  upon  you:  and  ye  shall  be  witnesses 
unto  me." 

I  wonder  how  much  personal  work  you  have  done 
for  Jesus  Christ?  I  pause  that  you  may  put  the  ques- 
tion intelligently  to  your  own  heart.  How  many  peo- 
ple have  you  tried  honestly,  definitely  tried  to  bring  to 
the  Lord  Jesus? 

Because  you  know  the  world  is  not  going  to  be  saved 
by  big  preachers.  It  is  going  to  be  saved  by  personal 
testimony,  by  the  power  of  the  grace  of  Christ  in  the 
individual  heart. 

Jesus  said :  "Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me."  And 
what  God  wants  you  to  do  is  to  be  a  witness  bearer. 
If  you  really  love  Him,  you  won't  let  any  one  do  or 
say  anything  against  Him  in  your  presence  without  a 
gentle,  tender  rebuke.  And  if  you  will  keep  it  up, 
they  will  feel  the  smart  of  the  insult  they  offer  Jesus 
Christ. 

How  many  people  have  you  written  a  letter  to  since 
this  campaign  began?  How  many  people  have  you 
gone  to  see?  How  many  people  have  you  prayed 
with  ? 

I  have  been  a  personal  worker  all  my  life.  I  be- 
lieve in  the  public  declaration  of  religion,  but  I  am  a 
profound  believer  in  personal  work.     Personal  work 

106 


YE  SHALL  RECEIVE  POWER  107 

results  in  hand-picked  fruit  and  it  fetches  more  in  the 
market. 

It  is  easier  to  preach  a  sermon  to  500  or  1,000  or 
5,000  than  to  get  down  and  talk  to  one  person  about 
spiritual  things.  That  is  where  your  test  comes  in. 
That  is  where  your  real  spiritual  life  comes  out. 

You  know  Peter  was  the  great  preacher  of  Pente- 
cost. Peter  and  John  had  been  through  Pentecost  in 
the  morning  and  they  were  going  to  prayer  meeting  in 
the  evening.  They  saw  a  beggar  at  the  gate  of  the 
Temple.  They  had  preached  to  the  multitude  out  of 
which  3,000  were  converted.  The  men  who  are  will- 
ing to  sit  down  and  help  one  soul,  the  women  who  are 
willing  to  help  one  soul  are  the  ones  that  God  can 
trust  with  the  multitude. 

Peter  and  John  were  on  their  way  to  the  Temple 
when  they  saw  the  beggar.  They  said,  "Look  on  us, 
look  on  us."  And  the  beggar  looked  on  them  and  began 
to  expect  something.  And  the  world  is  looking  to 
you — it  expects  something  from  you.  They  see  you 
going  to  church  and  coming  from  church,  but  do 
you  ever  stop  and  speak  to  them? 

Many  people  are  standing  outside  the  Temple  who 
will  never  get  inside  unless  some  one  helps  them.  That 
beggar  would  never  have  got  into  the  Temple  if  it 
had  not  been  for  Peter  and  John — if  they  hadn't 
stopped  to  help  him. 

I  say  to  Christians,  Don't  miss  the  personal  effort. 
Speak  to  that  boy;  speak  to  that  girl;  speak  to  that 
man ;  speak  to  that  woman.  Concentrate  on  one  soul. 
If  you  save  one  soul,  you  have  done  something  to 
deck  the  brow  of  Emmanuel. 


108  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

When  you  have  tested  the  luxury  of  saving  one 
soul  for  Jesus  Christ,  you  will  never  rest  until  you 
have  saved  another  one,  because  there  is  nothing  in 
the  world  like  it. 

What  do  you  know  about  personal  work?  ihe 
Lord  is  going  to  save  the  world  through  individual 
testimony.  God  expects  me  to  serve  the  world  just 
where  I  can  reach  it.  He  expects  me  to  reach  just  as 
much  as  I  can  cover,  and  to  evangelize  that  portion 
of  the  world  with  which  I  can  come  in  contact. 

Personal  work— and  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  your 
work  doesn't  stop  with  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
What  would  you  think  of  a  doctor  if  he  stood  up 
and  gave  a  lecture  on  health  and  then  left  all  his 
patients.  I  know  such  a  plan  wouldn't  do  for  me.  I 
need  somebody  to  come  and  get  a  hold  of  me  and  to 
take  up  my  own  case.  And  men  and  women,  who  are 
longing  for  the  gospel,  will  respond  to  the  personal 
touch.  He  is  going  to  save  the  world  by  the  testi- 
mony of  men  and  women  who  have  been  brought  from 
darkness  to  light.  . 

I  was  travelling  to  a  certain  valley  in  Wales,  during 
the  Welsh  revival  and  two  preachers  accompanied  me 
part  of  the  journey.  And  when  we  parted,  one  of 
them  said,  'The  Lord  go  with  you,  Brother  Smith." 
And  I  replied,  "If  He  doesn't,  I  will  speak  well  of 
Him  behind  His  back." 

I   remember  the  morning  I  was  converted.      My 
heart  was  bursting  to  tell  what  Jesus  had  done  for  me 
It  is  no  use  to  try  to  keep  it  in  when  you  have  found 
Christ.     Tell  the  sun  to  stop  shining;  tell  the  mighty 
rivers  to  stop  flowing;  tell  the  wind  to  stop  blowing; 


YE  SHALL  RECEIVE  POWER  109 

tell  the  birds  to  stop  singing;  tell  the  angels  in  high 
heaven  to  stop  the  shouting  of  Hallelujah.  It  is  no 
good  to  tell  Christians  to  be  quiet.  Well,  they  can't, 
that  is  all,  and  if  you  are  quiet,  it  is  because  you  are 
not  a  Christian.  If  you  have  anything  to  talk  about 
it  will  come  out. 

I  knelt  the  night  before  in  that  little  church  alone, 
and  nobody  came  to  me,  and  nobody  wanted  me,  and 
I  heard  somebody  say,  "That  is  only  a  gipsy  boy,  no 
use  to  be  concerned  about  him."  But  I  cried  out, 
"Lord  Jesus,  nobody  wants  me,  but  I  am  hungry  for 
Thee."  And  somehow  or  other,  my  boy's  heart  was 
strangely  warmed  and  I  went  home  to  my  father  and 
said  to  him,  "I  am  converted."  And  the  next  morn- 
ing I  went  out  with  my  wares  in  my  basket  and  the 
very  first  customer  I  had  I  began  to  preach  to  her,  I 
couldn't  keep  it  in.  I  had  got  Jesus  and  I  must  tell  of 
Him. 

Listen!  If  God  is  in  you,  and  you  know,  it  will 
come  out.  The  sun  shines.  The  birds  sing,  and  the 
joy  of  the  Lord  just  bubbles  over  and  flows  out.  And 
you  needn't  worry  about  people  who  are  properly  con- 
verted. They  will  preach  for  Christ.  If  they  didn't 
speak  at  all  their  lives  would  tell  the  story.  They 
just  shun  evil  and  place  their  trust  in  Christ.  He 
having  the  light,  just  shines  out. 

It  isn't  big  preaching  that  is  going  to  save  the  world. 
It  is  personal  work  for  Christ  and  a  witness  to  His 
glory,  of  salvation  full  and  free. 

I  went  up  into  Scotland — and  you  know  some  of 
the  greatest  preachers  are  Scotchmen.  One  of  these 
ministers  had  a  man  in  his  congregation  who  was  not 


110  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

a  Christian.  He  was  a  brainy  man,  a  lawyer.  And 
the  minister  longed  for  that  man  to  come  into  the 
Church.  So  he  organised  a  series  of  sermons  to  con- 
vert that  lawyer.  He  preached  on  them  for  an  entire 
winter,  and  when  the  services  were  all  over,  the  man 
came  to  him  and  said,  "Doctor,  I  want  to  join  the 
Church." 

"Thank  the  Lord,"  said  the  minister,  "which  sermon 
did  it?" 

"None  of  them  at  all;  the  sermons  never  interested 
me." 

"What  in  the  world  ever  influenced  you  to  come 
into  the  Church,  then  ?"  the  minister  asked. 

"You  know  that  widow  in  your  Church — the  one 
who  has  to  walk  with  sticks?" 

"Yes,"  replied  the  minister. 

"Well,  she  was  going  out  of  the  church  one  morn- 
ing and  one  of  her  sticks  fell  from  her  hand  and  I 
caught  her  just  in  time  to  save  her  from  falling.  And 
when  I  had  held  her  up  and  given  her  her  sticks  again 
she  said,  Thank  you,  sir.  I  hope  you  love  my  Jesus.' 
Your  sermons  didn't  do  it,  but  that  dear  old  widow's 
kind  words  did  it." 

It  is  your  personal  testimony  that  will  do  it.  Are 
you  so  filled  with  the  Spirit  you  must  tell  somebody 
about  Jesus  ?  The  consciousness  that  you  have  helped 
a  soul  to  Christ  will  bring  you  more  joy  than  anything 
else  in  the  world.  It  will  bring  you  more  joy  than 
all  the  decorations  and  honours  that  the  world  can  put 
upon  you. 

I  have  had  lots  of  honours  in  my  life.  My  King 
honoured  me  and  sent  for  me  to  come  to  Buckingham 


YE  SHALL  RECEIVE  POWER  m 

Palace  and  decorated  me.  And  I  don't  think  of  it 
once  in  a  year  unless  I  need  the  incident  to  illustrate 
my  text.  But  I  will  tell  you  what  gives  me  more 
joy  than  all  such  decorations.  The  joy  I  am  talking 
about  will  live  when  the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars 
go  out  like  sparks  from  the  blacksmith's  anvil. 

I  was  sitting  in  a  railroad  carriage  one  night  in 
England.  I  was  conducting  a  revival  in  a  little  town 
about  twenty  miles  west  of  Plymouth  and  I  was  go- 
ing up  to  Plymouth  for  a  little  holiday.  I  was  early 
m  the  train  and  sank  into  a  seat  behind  my  newspaper. 
The  train  was  filled  with  country  folk  returning  from 
the  market.  A  dear  old  granny  sat  in  front  of  me 
and  as  soon  as  the  train  started  the  topic  of  discussion 
became  Gipsy  Smith. 

The  revival  I  was  conducting  was  arousing  quite  a 
bit  of  discussion  and  it  was  only  natural  for  these 
folks  to  talk  about  it.  I  was  glad  I  was  behind  my 
paper.  I  heard  some  very  helpful  things  about  my- 
self. And  sometimes  it  would  help  all  of  us  if  we  could 
see  ourselves  as  others  see  us. 

The  old  granny  said :  "You  can  say  what  you  please 
about  Gipsy  Smith,  I  pray  for  him  twice  every  day 
and  pray  the  Lord  for  the  success  of  his  meetings' 
I  will  tell  you  why.  You  all  know  our  Jack.  When 
his  father  died,  he  took  his  share  of  the  estate  and  went 
to  South  Africa,  and  lived  a  fast  and  loose  life  and 
went  literally  to  the  Devil.  He  broke  his  mother's 
heart  and  turned  my  own  hair  a  little  greyer. 

"When  the  news  came  one  day  that  Gipsy  Smith 
was  going  to  South  Africa,  I  prayed  God  to  help  him 
to  find  Jack. 


112  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

"One  day,  long  after  that,  Jack  came  home.  And 
he  knelt  at  his  mother's  knee  and  said,  ^Mother,  I  am 
converted.  I  heard  Gipsy  Smith  and  he  told  me  to 
come  home  and  put  flowers  in  my  mother's  hands 
while  she  could  enjoy  them  and  not  upon  her  coffin.' 
Our  Jack  is  now  a  preacher  and  a  Sunday  School 
teacher  and  everybody  loves  him,  and  whatever  any 
one  says  about  Gipsy  Smith,  I  would  like  to  write  on 
his  coffin  with  my  own  fingers,  *A  friend  of  sinners.'  " 

I  would  rather  go  to  heaven  with  that  character  than 
be  a  millionaire  or  a  multi-millionaire. 

There  are  some  folks  in  your  city  to-day  without  God 
and  without  hope  in  the  world.  Go  and  talk  to  them. 
Go  and  love  them  to  Jesus  Christ.  And  some  day 
He  will  say  to  you,  ^'Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  to  one  of 
the  least  of  these,  my  brethren,  ye  did  it  to  me." 


XVI 
HE  PLEASED  GOD 

Hebrews  11:5. — "By  faith  Enoch  was  translated  that  he 
should  not  see  death;  and  he  was  not  found,  because 
God  translated  him :  for  before  his  translation  he  had 
this  testimony,  that  he  pleased  God." 

Please  God  and  walk  with  Him. 

In  England  there  was  a  little  girl  who  had  heard 
her  elders  talk  about  Enoch  being  translated  and  al- 
though it  wasn't  all  clear  to  the  little  child,  she  per- 
ceived the  meaning  plainly  enough. 

She  said,  ''Mamma,  he  walked  so  far  with  Him 
that  day  that  he  forgot  to  come  back  and  I  expect 
God  said  to  Enoch,  You  have  come  so  far,  just  stay 
here.  You  have  been  there  in  the  world  long  enough 
now;  you  must  stay  with  me." 

Had  you  known  Enoch,  you  would  have  known 
God.  I  say  that  reverently.  For  to  have  walked  with 
God,  as  Enoch  walked  with  Him,  is  to  interpret  God 
to  those  about  you.  That  is  what  spiritual  religion 
means.  So  to  take  God  into  my  life  is  to  say,  ''Be- 
hold your  God !" 

Whether  I  speak  or  not,  my  Hfe,  if  God  gets  His 
way  with  me,  will  reflect  my  Master,  and  yours  will 
do  that  also.  And  if  my  life  doesn't  show  Christ,  it 
is  wrong;  and  if  your  life  doesn't  do  that,  it  is  wrong. 
It  breaks  down  somewhere. 

And  why  have  you  filled  this  building  every  day 

113 


lU  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

for  three  weeks  ?  Why  ?  Why  are  you  here  this  morn- 
ing? What  has  brought  you?  What  has  caused  you 
to  come  through  the  rain,  the  inclement  weather? 
What  has  aroused  you?  What  has  moved  your  city? 
What  has  arrested  the  attention  of  rich  and  poor  aHke? 

What  has  made  the  topic  of  conversation  throughout 
the  city,  the  Revival?  Is  it  Gipsy  Smith?  If  you 
think  that,  you  don't  know  anything  about  it.  If 
Gipsy  Smith  stood  on  this  platform  and  talked  about 
any  other  subject  in  this  world  for  six  days,  you 
couldn't  fill  this  building.  I  might  talk  of  things  past, 
of  things  present,  of  things  to  come,  and  you  might 
fill  it  once,  but  you  couldn't  fill  it  twice  with  any  other 
subject  than  the  Son  of  God.  It  is  the  gospel  of  the 
Son  of  God  that  has  got  hold  of  your  heart.  And 
somehow  or  other,  you  have  a  notion  you  have  dis- 
cerned a  portion  of  His  spirit  in  this  poor  body,  and 
it  is  that  which  has  brought  you  here,  and  nothing 
else  in  the  world.  Christ  in  me  means  hope  for  some 
one  else. 

It  is  the  interpretation  of  God  in  human  lives  that 
is  going  to  save  the  world,  and  you  and  I  have  got  to 
learn  how  to  interpret  Him. 

Abraham  walked  after  God.  And  then  we  are  told 
he  walked  before  God.  That  is  to  say  he  followed  his 
Lord  and  then  walked  so  that  the  Lord  watched  him 
and  could  see  his  every  movement.  But  Enoch  walked 
with  Him;  walked  side  by  side. 

I  wonder  if  you  have  walked  after  Him.  I  wonder 
if  you  have  walked  before  Him.  I  wonder  if  you 
are  walking  with  Him?  I  wonder  if  you  have  gone 
out  of  these  services,  during  these  past  days,  by  His 


HE  PLEASED  GOD  115 

side,  walking  with  a  lighter  step,  with  more  joy  in 
your  soul,  and  with  light  in  your  eyes  which  never  had 
been  there  before.  I  wonder  if  you  have  said,  "I  have 
seen  the  Lord."  For  that  makes  all  the  difference. 
When  God  comes  into  your  life,  my  brother,  my  sis- 
ter, Heaven  won't  seem  far  away.  It  will  seem  very 
close. 

I  tell  you  that  from  glad  experience.  Do  you  know 
anything  about  walking  with  God?  Because  if  you 
do,  your  wife  knows  it.  The  first  place  it  will  be 
seen  will  be  in  your  home. 

A  woman  came  to  me  not  long  ago  and  said, 
"Brother  Smith,  the  Lord  has  revealed  to  me  that  I 
have  to  preach  the  gospel.  I  am  a  married  woman 
and  have  twelve  children."  I  took  her  hand  and  told 
her  she  ought  to  be  the  happiest  woman  in  the  world. 
She  asked,  "Why."  I  replied,  "He  told  you  that  you 
have  to  preach  the  gospel  and  he  has  provided  you 
with  a  congregation." 

That  is  your  place.  Mother.  Your  place  is  in  the 
home  where  your  children  are.  That  is  your  place, 
my  brother,  where  your  children  are.  Because  if  you 
can't  preach  Christ  at  home,  on  your  doorstep,  you 
can't  preach  Him  anywhere  else,  with  my  permission. 
Right  on  your  own  hearth,  that  is  the  place,  and  I  tell 
you,  if  you  love  Christ,  you  will  understand  what  one 
of  your  own  song-writers  so  beautifully  expressed, 
when  he  wrote : 

"And  He  walks  with  me,  and  He  talks  with  me, 

And  He  tells  me  I  am  His  own, 
And  the  joy  we  share,  as  we  tarry  there, 

None  other  has  ever  known." 


116  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

I  saw  a  mother  here  this  morning,  and  her  beautiful 
Christian  girls  were  with  her.  They  care  for  spiritual 
things.  Why  ?  Because  their  mother  put  those  things 
into  them  when  they  were  babies. 

You  walk  with  God,  and  your  wife  and  children  will 
be  with  you. 

You  dear,  sweet  people,  you  have  got  a  kink  some- 
where. A  twist  somewhere.  You  would  have  won 
your  family  to  Christ  if  it  had  not  been  for  that. 
When  everything  smiles,  and  then  breaks  away,  and 
becomes  dark,  and  you  do  things  which  you  learn  to 
regret,  then  there  is  a  kink  somewhere.  I  had  a  person 
like  that  in  my  congregation  when  I  held  a  pastorate. 
Well,  that  woman  in  my  congregation  used  to  pray 
for  her  husband  at  every  prayer  meeting.  His  name 
was  John.  I  tried  to  get  John  into  the  Church.  I 
made  sermons  for  him.  And  I  put  nets  around  him. 
But,  somehow  or  other  I  failed  to  get  him.  I  had 
seen  him  deeply  moved,  and  weep  at  the  service,  and 
I  expected  him  to  surrender  next,  but  he  never  came. 
And  I  had  conversions.  There  wasn't  a  Sunday  in 
the  four  years  of  my  pastorate  that  I  didn't  have  con- 
versions. And  the  people  of  my  Church  were  on  the 
lookout  for  converts.  I  had  none  of  those  people  who 
sit  on  the  back  row  and  fly  as  soon  as  the  Amen  is 
pronounced.  Some  people  do  that,  you  know.  She 
used  to  pray  often  and  earnestly  for  John,  but  I  didn't 
get  him. 

One  Sunday  night  I  saw  him  weeping  and  expected 
him  to  come  to  a  decision,  but  he  didn't.  He  did  not 
surrender  and  my  heart  was  disappointed  and  I 
couldn't  sleep  that  night. 


HE  PLEASED  GOD  117 

The  next  morning  I  went  to  his  office  (he  was  a 
business  man)  and  requested  to  see  him. 

"I  am  busy,"  was  the  answer  sent  out. 

"Well,  tell  him,"  I  said,  ''that  I  am  also  busy  and 
will  not  go  away  until  I  see  him." 

And  they  told  him  and  in  a  few  moments  out  came 
the  word,  ''Well,  if  you  are  in  that  mood,  you'd  better 
come  in." 

And  when  I  got  in,  I  said,  "I  want  to  talk  with  you 
in  private.    Please  dismiss  your  stenographer." 

And  when  she  had  gone,  I  began : 

"Now,  then,"  I  said,  "last  night  God  spoke  to  you, 
you  didn't  surrender  to  Christ,  and  I  can't  see  why. 
I  haven't  been  able  to  sleep  because  of  your  refusal. 
I  was  troubled  because  you  didn't.  I  want  to  know 
if  it  is  my  fault,  and  if  it  is,  I  will  get  down  on  my 
knees  and  ask  God  to  forgive  me.  I  have  seen  you 
under  the  power  of  God  and  I  have  seen  you  go  away 
without  Christ.     Is  it  my  fault?" 

'*No,"  he  said,  "it  is  not.  I  love  you.  I  respect 
you.  I  know  I  ought  to  come  to  Christ,  but  there  are 
reasons." 

It  seemed  as  if  ever  a  man  was  trying  to  be  loyal  to 
his  wife,  he  was  trying,  that  morning. 

I  am  going  to  know  just  what  it  is,  I  told  him. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "Mary  is  a  good  wife,  and  a  lovely 
woman,  but  she  has  got  an  awful  temper.  Last  week 
she  got  into  one  of  those  tempers  and  that  is  what 
kept  me  out." 

So  that  was  it.  Those  are  the  stumbling  blocks. 
You  have  to  take  people  in  this  world  as  they  are. 
The  Devil  will  magnify  the  little  things  until  they 


118  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

seem  to  block  the  path  and  you  will  keep  people  from 
salvation.  It  was  his  wife's  temper,  in  that  man's 
case. 

"Oh,  it  is  Mary,"  I  said.  "Very  well,  I  will  be  ready 
for  Mary  next  time." 

And  sure  enough,  that  same  week,  Mary  came  to 
the  prayer  meeting  and  said,  "Mr.  Smith,  when  is  my 
John  going  to  be  converted  ?" 

"Whenever  you  get  right  with  God,"  I  replied. 

"You  mean  me?" 

"Yourself,  Mary." 

"I  know,"  she  said,  weeping.    "It  is  my  temper." 

"Yes,  that  is  the  very  thing  that  is  hindering  your 
husband." 

Mary  wasn't  walking  with  God,  when  she  was  in 
a  passion  and  looking  ugly;  and,  you  know,  saying 
spiteful  things  is  expensive. 

"Boys  flying  kites,  haul  in  their  white-winged  birds," 
but  you  can't  do  that  when  you  are  flying  words. 

Thoughts  unexpressed  may  sometimes  seem  as  dead, 
But  God  cannot  kill  them,  when  once  they  are  said. 

Some  of  you  have  broken  hearts  by  cruel  words  and 
temper. 

Scientists  will  tell  you  if  you  breathe  into  a  glass 
tube  when  in  a  temper,  you  would  find  upon  examina- 
tion a  sediment  of  poison  in  that  tube  that  came  out 
of  you  when  you  were  in  that  temper.  You  are  not 
like  Jesus  when  in  a  temper. 

Walk  with  Him;  how  blessed  the  way.  May  God 
help  you!  Enoch  walked  with  God,  and  you  and  I 
can  walk  with  Him  in  the  same  way. 


XVII 
THEN  DREW  NEAR  UNTO  HIM 

Luke  15:  1,3. — ''Then  drew  near  unto  him  all  the  publicans 
and  sinners  for  to  hear  him  .  .  .  And  he  spake  this 
parable  unto  them." 

These  three  wonderful  stories  which  Jesus  used, 
as  recorded  in  the  15th  chapter  of  St.  Luke's  gospel, 
were  specifically  used  by  Him  to  teach  two  things: 
first,  that  God  is  seeking  His  own  and  wants  to  find 
His  own;  and  second,  that  when  His  own  have  sense 
enough  to  come  and  confess  their  sin  there  is  joy  in 
Heaven. 

That  is  the  great  moving  truth  of  the  stories.  You 
remember  that  when  Jesus  was  receiving  the  Pub- 
licans and  sinners  the  Pharisees  said :  *'This  man  re- 
ceiveth  sinners  and  eateth  with  them." 

And  Jesus  said,  that  any  man  who  would  submit 
his  life  and  soul  and  heart  to  the  will  of  God,  and 
turn  from  sin  to  God  would  be  saved.  That  is  the 
substance  of  these  stories. 

I  think  I  said  here  the  other  day  that  when  the 
sheep  went  astray  a  man  went  after  it — the  owner — and 
he  sought  it  till  he  found  it.  When  the  silver  went 
astray,  a  woman  went  after  it — when  the  son  went 
away,  nobody  went  after  him,  because  there  is  a  differ- 
ence between  a  sheep  and  a  man;  there  is  a  difference 
between  a  piece  of  silver  and  the  soul  of  a  man  that 

has  to  live  forever. 

119 


120  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

The  sheep  isn't  responsible,  or  a  piece  of  silver  isn't 
responsible,  but  a  man  is.  The  man  is  a  moral  agent ; 
he  has  a  free  will;  he  has  a  privilege  of  choice;  he  has 
a  power  to  say  "No"  and  the  power  to  say  "Yes/' 
He  may  be  lifted  to  heights  ineffable  or  he  can  de- 
scend to  depths  unutterable. 

When  the  sheep  went  away,  the  owner  went  after  it. 
When  the  silver  got  lost  the  woman  searched  for  it. 
Jesus  told  the  story,  remember.  He  told  it  perfectly, 
and  He  is  teaching  that  repentance  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment kind  is  such  a  beautiful  thing  that  when  a  man 
does  repent  there  is  joy  in  Heaven. 

And  the  son  went  and  joined  himself  to  a  citizen 
of  a  far  country  after  he  had  spent  all.  After  he  had 
wasted  all  his  substance  in  riotous  living  he  joined  him- 
self to  a  citizen  of  that  country,  and  he  sent  him  into 
the  fields  to  feed  the  swine,  and  that  was  about  the 
most  humiliating  thing  to  any  Jew  in  the  world. 

After  spending  his  money  with  the  citizens  of  a  far 
country,  he  was  sent  out  into  the  field.  You  are  a 
good  fellow  as  long  as  your  money  lasts,  as  long  as 
your  health  lasts,  but  let  your  money  go  and  let  your 
health  go,  and  will  they  want  you? 

Yes,  you  love  me  to-day,  or  say  you  do,  but  if  I 
were  to  make  one  mistake  and  step  down,  the  same 
crowd  that  applauds  me  to-day  would  crucify  me  to- 
morrow. 

Don't  you  forget  the  crowd  that  shouted  "Hosan- 
nah"  to  Jesus  one  day,  and  "Away  with  Him!"  "Let 
Him  be  crucified !"  the  next  day. 

The  people  are  with  you  just  as  long  as  you  please 
them ;  the  public  is  with  you  just  as  long  as  you  serve 


THEN  DREW  NEAR  UNTO  HIM     121 

it;  the  public  is  with  you  just  as  long  as  you  satisfy 
it.  The  people  are  for  you  as  long  as  you  are  their 
idol.  But  you  turn  around  and  do  one  thing  wrong, 
and  the  service  of  years,  the  goodness  of  years,  the 
consecration  of  years,  the  attempts  to  help  others,  are 
all  forgotten  in  one  mistake,  in  one  step-down. 

Don't  forget  that,  and  when  he  had  spent  all,  and 
had  begun  to  be  in  want,  somebody  sent  him  in  the 
fields  to  feed  the  swine.  The  world  treats  you  Hke 
that,  and  you  know  it  does. 

As  long  as  you  serve  it,  it  will  applaud  you.  But 
wait  until  your  bloom  is  gone,  the  light  has  gone  from 
your  eyes,  until  the  elasticity  has  gone  from  your  step, 
wait  until  your  hair  turns  grey  and  your  money  is 
gone.  The  world  paid  him  to  get  out  of  its  sight 
and  the  world  will  serve  you  in  the  same  way  if  you 
lean  upon  it.  And  when  he  was  sent  out  to  feed  the 
swine  he  came  to  himself.  *'How  many  hired  servants 
of  my  father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  I 
perish  with  hunger."  His  first  notion  was  that  he  was 
hungry.  And  God  got  at  him  through  his  stomach. 
He  came  to  himself  and  no  man  comes  unto  his  father 
until  he  comes  to  himself. 

"I  will  arise,  and  go  to  my  father,  and  will  say 
unto  him,  I  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son; 
make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants." 

The  test  was  in  his  promising  to  be  a  better  son 
and  in  getting  up  and  going — w^alking  all  the  way 
home — he  didn't  ask  anybody  for  a  ride.  And  he 
didn't  ask  his  father  by  letter  or  phone  or  by  telegram 
to  send  the  old  family  chariot  for  him.  He  didn't 
say,  if  you  will  make  a  great  fuss  over  me,  I  will  come. 


122  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

He  just  felt  weary  and  homesick,  and  tired  and  hun- 
gry, and  wasted  and  sick,  and  he  tramped  all  the  way 
with  bleeding  feet  and  a  wretched  heart.  And  the 
story  doesn't  tell  you  that  his  father  got  a  company 
of  his  neighbours  and  went  to  hunt  for  him.  Real 
repentance  makes  a  man  come  home.  And  no  man 
comes  home  himself  when  he  is  carried.  No  man 
repents  until  he  comes  home  to  his  father. 

But  you  say  the  father  ran  to  meet  him  ?  Yes,  when 
he  saw  him  coming,  and  he  will  run  to  meet  you  when 
he  sees  you  coming.  *'But  when  he  was  yet  a  great 
way  off,  his  father  saw  him,  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his 
neck,  and  kissed  him."  Oh!  the  compassion  of  the 
Father  when  He  sees  you  coming.  And  when  you 
come,  Jesus  says,  "Joy  shall  be  in  Heaven."  And  I 
am  glad  He  put  that  in. 

And  the  poor  tired  lad  said,  "I  have  sinned,"  and, 
mind  you,  those  words  from  his  lips  meant  more  than 
any  from  yours  or  mine.  They  were  original  then. 
They  had  not  become  stereotyped  or  hackneyed.  "I 
have  sinned  and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy 
son."  But  he  didn't  get  it  all  out.  The  father  didn't 
let  him.  He  was  ready  to  say.  Make  me  a  servant,  I 
don't  ask  for  my  old  place  in  the  family,  I  don't  ask 
for  my  old  place  at  the  board.  I  am  not  worthy.  I 
don't  ask  you  to  let  me  sleep  in  my  old,  little  room. 
I  am  not  worthy  of  that.  I  will  do  anything,  only  let 
me  be  near  enough  to  see  your  smile  and  to  have  the 
assurance  that  I  have  forgiveness,  and  I  am  willing  to 
be  a  servant.  That  is  the  kind  of  repentance  that 
brings  salvation  to  the  heart,  when  we  are  prepared 
to  lose  everything  in  the  world,  in  order  to  get  the  smile 


THEN  DREW  NEAR  UNTO  HIM     123 

of  God  and  the  approval  of  our  conscience,  and  free- 
dom from  the  guilt  of  the  past.  That  is  why  the  story 
was  told,  to  show  you  how  to  get  right  with  God. 

If  there  is  joy  in  Heaven,  there  is  joy  in  earth,  and 
I  thank  God  over  one  sinner  that  repents.  Some  one 
may  ask,  ''Where  was  his  mother?"  I  don't  know 
where  she  was.  The  story  doesn't  tell  us  that.  But 
I  know  that  wherever  she  was  there  was  joy  in  her 
heart.    He  had  a  mother — I  am  sure  of  that. 

Jesus  makes  no  reference  to  the  mother  of  the 
Prodigal  because  she  had  nothing  to  do  with  his  home- 
coming, or  the  reconciliation  between  him  and  his  fa- 
ther. What  He  is  teaching  is  that  a  poor  lost  sinner 
can  find  his  way  back  to  a  pardoning  God  without 
any  human  interference.  And  when  boys  come  home 
as  the  Prodigal  came,  and  the  mothers  are  anywhere 
around,  there  is  joy. 

If  there  is  a  man  or  woman  here  this  morning  that 
has  not  come  home,  God  help  you  to  come  home  to- 
day. Jesus  waits  for  you.  And  you  know,  if  you 
don't  come  now,  while  the  days  of  grace  are  flowing 
through  your  city,  when  will  you  come  ?  God  is  speak- 
ing to  you  through  me.  When  will  you  come  if 
you  don't  come  when  He  calls  you?  He  wants  you 
to  come  home — will  you  do  it  ?  The  coming  belongs 
to  you,  the  joy  of  pardon  and  the  restoration  will  be 
yours  when  you  have  the  sense  to  humble  yourself  in 
a  full  surrender  at  the  foot  of  the  cross.  You  will  then 
hear  Him  say,  "Bring  forth  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on 
him."  I  have  seen  the  best  robe  of  a  rose.  I  have 
seen  the  best  robe  of  a  morning  that  breaks  over  the 
cliff-tops  of  eternity  and  creeps  through  the  gates  of 


124.  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

gold  without  a  creak  on  their  hinges.  I  have  seen  the 
best  robe  of  lovely  valleys  kissed  into  glory  by  the 
sun's  first  rays.  I  have  seen  Nature  decked  in  glory 
and  I  have  looked  into  beautiful  faces  and  brilliant 
eyes.  But,  my  brethren,  "Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the 
things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love 
him." 

My  brother,  the  best  robe  is  for  you.  The  robe  of 
a  Saviour's  righteousness.  The  robe  of  eternal  love- 
liness.   ''Bring  forth  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on  him." 

He  wants  to  give  you  the  best  robe.  Are  you  worthy 
of  the  best?  He  is  worthy  of  the  best  you  have.  He 
is  getting  the  best  I  have.  The  very  best.  But  it  is 
poor.  So  short  of  what  I  would  like  my  love  for 
Him  to  be.  It  is  so  little  and  what  I  want  to  give 
Him  is  such  a  lot.  My  service  is  so  poor  and  cald! 
What  I  would  give  Him  if  I  had  it. 

Are  we  ready  to  give  Him  all  we  have  this  morning, 
all  we  hope  to  be  ?    I  am ! 

"My  life,  my  love,  I  give  to  Thee, 
Oh,  Lamb  of  God,  who  died  for  me. 

Oh,  may  I  ever  faithful  be. 
My  Saviour,  and  my  God." 


XVIII 
THE  WAGES  OF  SIN  IS  DEATH 

Romans  6:  23. — "For  the  wages  of  sin  is  death;  but  the  gift 
of  God  is  eternal  life,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

The  man  who  sins,  the  woman  who  sins,  will  have 
to  pay  the  bill.  That  is  the  law  of  life,  as  well  as  the 
law  of  God,  so  be  not  deceived.    God  is  not  mocked. 

"Whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  also  shall  he  reap." 
If  you  sow  to  the  flesh,  you  will  of  the  flesh  reap 
corruption.  If  you  sow  to  the  Spirit,  you  will  reap 
life  everlasting.  You  can't  do  wrong  and  then  live  as 
though  nothing  had  happened.  It  is  absolutely  im- 
possible. 

A  little  boy  in  London  was  caught  trying  to  kill  his 
baby  sister  with  a  pair  of  scissors.  He  was  trying  to 
cut  the  throat  of  his  little  sister.  The  mother  was  so 
alarmed  that  she  called  in  a  specialist.  The  specialist 
said  to  the  little  fellow,  "Why  do  you  want  to  hurt 
your  sister?"  "I  just  want  to  kill  some  one  all  the 
time,"  was  the  answer. 

The  specialist,  looking  at  the  father,  who  was  in  the 
room,  said,  "Do  you  drink?"  He  answered,  "Occa- 
sionally." 

"Some  day  this  boy  of  yours  will  murder  some  one 
and  it  is  because  of  your  drinking,"  the  specialist  said. 
Don't  you  be  deceived — the  wages  of  sin  is  death. 

A  beautiful  woman,  nearly  a  life-long  friend  of 
mine  and  of  my  wife,  was  taken  sick  at  8  o'clock  one 

125 


126  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

night  and  was  dead  at  8  o'clock  the  next  morning. 
Her  husband  sent  for  a  speciaHst  as  well  as  the  family 
doctor,  for  he  wanted  to  find  out  all  he  could  even  after 
she  was  gone.  The  specialist  said  to  the  husband, 
"What  did  her  mother  die  of?" 

"Pneumonia,"  was  the  answer.  "And  what  did  her 
father  die  of?"  "Chronic  asthma."  "Did  her  father 
ever  drink?"  the  specialist  asked. 

"Yes,  heavily  in  his  youth,"  came  the  answer. 

"That  was  what  has  killed  his  daughter,"  the  special- 
ist said. 

A  husband  and  father  in  one  of  your  own  cities 
came  to  me  one  day  and  said,  "You  are  right,  the 
wages  of  sin  is  death.  I  have  two  lovely  daughters.  If 
you  saw  them  out  driving,  you  would  think  they  were 
beautiful.  But  both  are  blind.  They  are  blind  through 
my  sin.    'The  wages  of  sin  is  death.'  " 

How  do  you  expect  to  think  pure  thoughts  when 
you  love  smutty  stories  and  love  to  tell  them  and  love 
to  listen  to  them  and  are  never  so  happy  as  when  read- 
ing filthy,  suggestive  literature?  How  can  your  soul 
soar  in  the  light  when  you  love  the  filth  of  hell? 

The  wages  of  sin  is  death.  Don't  be  deceived.  If 
you  will  do  wrong,  it  is  coming  back.  You  may  try 
^o  chain  up  the  lion,  chain  up  the  tiger  within  you,  and 
you  may  think  you  have,  because  they  behave  them- 
selves. But  once  in  a  while  they  get  their  claws  far 
enough  through  the  bars  of  the  cage  to  show  what  they 
would  do  if  they  had  their  liberty. 

The  only  thing  for  you  to  do  is  to  bring  that  heart 
to  Jesus  Christ  and  let  Him  clean  it  for  you. 

You  can't  live  a  spiritual  life  without  a  spiritual 


THE  WAGES  OF  SIN  IS  DEATH  127 

heart.  The  apostle  in  this  same  chapter  talks  about 
the  marvelous  changing  grace  of  Jesus  Christ.  "Being 
made  free  from  sin,  ye  became  the  servants  of  right- 
eousness." 

"But  now  being  made  free  from  sin,  and  become 
servants  of  God,  ye  have  your  fruit  unto  holiness,  and 
the  end  everlasting  life." 

If  you  yield  yourself  to  the  world,  you  are  the 
world's  servants.  If  you  yield  yourself  to  false  cus- 
toms, you  are  the  servants  of  false  customs.  If  you 
yield  yourself  to  conventionalities,  you  are  the  servants 
of  conventionalities.  If  you  yield  yourself  to  the  hab- 
its of  the  world,  you  are  the  servants  of  those  habits. 

If  you  yield  yourself  to  lust,  you  are  the  servant  of 
lust.  If  you  yield  yourself  to  your  appetite,  you  are 
the  servant  of  your  appetite.  If  you  yield  yourself  to 
Jesus  Christ,  you  are  the  servant,  the  slave, — no,  I 
want  to  change  that  word — you  are  the  free  man  of 
the  Son  of  God. 

Where  are  you  this  morning?  What  are  you  follow- 
ing? Whose  property  are  you?  What  is  your  life — 
what  kind  of  a  life  are  you  living?  Is  it  the  life  of 
Christ,  or  are  you  held  down  by  the  bondage  of  the 
Devil?  If  you  are,  there  is  One  who  can  emancipate 
you  and  make  you  a  free  man  this  morning  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

Jesus  Christ  can  save  you;  that  is  my  message. 
For  I  believe  in  a  full  Christ.  I  do  not  believe  in  a 
mutilated  Christ.  I  believe  in  the  Christ  of  Beth- 
lehem, but  I  also  believe  in  the  Christ  of  the  great 
White  Throne.  I  believe  in  the  Christ  from  the  cross, 
the  Christ  of  the  open  grave.    I  believe  in  the  Christ 


128  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

from  the  heart  of  the  Eternal  God  from  all  eternity. 
I  preach  God's  Christ,  God's  Son  and  Saviour  of  the 
world. 

I  wonder  if  you  mutilate  Christ.  He  can't  save  any- 
body who  limits  Him  and  specifies  boundaries  for  Him 
and  mutilates  Him.  The  Christ  I  am  preaching  is  the 
Christ  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  the  Christ  of  the 
ages. 

And  I  can  have  no  fellowship,  my  brother,  with  any 
man  who  denies  my  Christ,  the  royal  Christ.  And 
Jesus  is  what  He  says  He  is,  or  He  is  the  biggest  liar 
the  world  ever  knew.  I  take  Him  for  the  Saviour  of 
the  world.  I  accept  Him  as  the  Prince  of  Peace,  my 
Saviour,  my  Lord  and  my  God.  That  is  the  Christ 
I  am  preaching  because  that  is  the  Christ  the  world 
needs.    Oh !  that  we  might  obey  Him ! 

I  know  only  a  Saviour  who  saves  to  the  uttermost 
and  I  don't  care  what  your  sin  is,  if  you  will  bring  it 
to  Christ,  you  will  find  Him  mighty  to  save.  He  will 
blot  out  your  past  and  He  will  see  you  in  the  Beloved 
this  morning,  a  new  creature.  That  is  the  gospel. 
That  is  God's  gift — Christ;  God's  gift  to  us.  The 
bleeding  Christ;  He  was  God's  gift  to  a  lost  world 
and  there  is  no  other  message  that  the  world  cares  for, 
and  anything  less  than  that  is  only  a  tantalisation  and 
an  insult  to  its  needs. 

And  you  who  are  preachers,  you  and  I,  have  got  the 
greatest  job  and  the  greatest  privilege  the  world  ever 
saw,  to  preach  Christ  to  its  hungry  heart.  God  help 
us  to  do  it ! 

And  we  must  know  the  real  Jesus  Christ  before  we 
can  pass  Him  on  to  the  world.    To  know  God's  gift  of 


THE  WAGES  OF  SIN  IS  DEATH  129 

life  eternal  and  to  be  able  to  interpret  that  gift  to  the 
world  is  one  of  the  greatest  honours,  if  not  the  great- 
est, that  can  come  to  a  human  soul,  for  the  gift  of 
God  is  eternal  life. 

A  preacher  friend  of  mine,  whose  name  some  of 
you  know,  was  the  first  man  called  to  succeed  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  when  he  passed  away  in  Brooklyn.  He 
was  Dr.  Charles  Berry,  a  young  Congregationalist 
minister. 

When  Dr.  Berry  received  the  call,  he  said  to  me,  "Mr. 
Smith,  almost  anybody  can  jump  into  Beecher's  shoes, 
but  it  is  not  everybody  who  can  wear  his  hat.  If  I 
went  over  there  I  should  be  known  as  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's  successor.  If  I  stay  here  I  shall  be  known  as 
somebody's  predecessor.    And  I  have  decided  to  stay." 

One  night  my  young  friend,  in  his  first  pastorate 
was  sitting  in  his  study,  with  his  house  slippers  on, 
and  thinking.  It  was  after  12  o'clock  and  he  was 
very  cozy.  Presently  the  bell  rang  and  he  went  to  the 
door.  At  the  door  stood  a  typical  Lancashire  girl 
with  a  shawl  over  her  head  and  clogs  on  her  feet. 

"Are  you  a  minister?"  she  asked.  "Yes,"  he  an- 
swered. 

"You  must  come  with  me  quickly;  I  want  you  to 
get  my  mother  in." 

And  in  telling  the  story  to  Dr.  Jowett  and  me  later, 
he  said  that  he  naturally  thought  the  mother  was  in- 
toxicated and  that  aid  was  needed  to  get  her  home. 

"Why,  you  must  go  and  get  a  policeman,"  he  said 
to  her. 

"My  mother  is  dying,'*  she  said,  "and  I  must  bring 
you  to  get  her  into  heaven." 


130  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

"Where  do  you  live?"  and  she  named  a  place  that 
was  about  a  mile  and  a  half  away. 

"Isn't  there  a  minister  nearer  that  you  can  get  ?"  he 
asked.  "Yes,  but  I  want  you,  and  you  must  come. 
My  mother  is  dying.'* 

And  he  stood  hesitating,  for  he  thought,  what  would 
the  people  think  of  a  minister  going  through  the  streets 
with  a  girl  dressed  as  she  was  dressed  and  with  a  shawl 
over  her  head,  and  he  was  wondering  whether  he 
should  go. 

But  the  girl  took  hold  of  his  arm,  and  said,  "Oh, 
man  of  God,  make  haste ;  my  mother  is  dying." 

"I  went  with  her,"  he  said,  "and  the  house  where  she 
lived  was  a  house  of  shame.  Downstairs  there  was 
rowdyish  singing  and  dancing  and  upstairs  a  woman 
was  dying.  And  when  I  got  to  her  bedside  I  began 
to  talk  to  her  of  what  I  believed.  I  told  her  of  Jesus, 
the  example,  the  teacher,  but  she  tossed  about  on  her 
pillow,  like  a  ship  in  a  storm." 

"Mister,"  she  cried,  "that  is  no  use  for  the  likes  of 
me.  I  am  a  sinner.  I  have  lived  my  life.  Can't  you 
tell  me  of  somebody  who  can  have  mercy  upon  me  and 
save  my  poor  soul?" 

"I  stood  in  the  presence  of  the  dying  woman  and  T 
had  nothing  to  tell  her.  In  the  midst  of  sin  and  death 
I  had  no  message  and  I  was  up  against  it.  And  in 
order  to  bring  something  to  that  dying  woman,  I 
jumped  back  to  my  mother's  knee,  to  my  cradle  faith, 
and  began  with  the  story  of  the  cross  and  the  Christ, 
who  was  able  to  save  unto  the  uttermost." 

And  she  looked  through  her  tears,  and  said,  "Now 
you  are  getting  at  it.    Now  you  are  helping  me." 


THE  WAGES  OF  SIN  IS  DEATH  131 

"I  told  her  the  story  and  got  her  in,  and,  blessed  be 
God,  I  got  in  myself." 
^  The  Christ  of  the  text  is  Jesus  Christ,  the  gift  of 
God.  He  is  the  Saviour  who  saves  to  the  uttermost 
and  He  can  save  you.  How  do  I  know?  He  saved 
me,  and  He  can  save  you.  Try  Him,  test  Him,  put 
Him  to  the  proof.  In  these  glorious  days,  put  Him 
to  the  test.  "The  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life,"  and 
that  gift  is  Christ.  For  he  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life, 
and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son,  hath  not  life,  but  the 
wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him. 


XIX 

THE  UNDERSTANDING  OF  THE  PRUDENT 

John  17 :  20. — "Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them 
also  which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word." 

I  Corinthians  i :  19. — "For  it  is  written,  *I  will  destroy  the 
wisdom  of  the  wise,  and  will  bring  to  nothing  the 
understanding  of  the  prudent/" 

In  these  words,  you  have  the  mind,  the  desire,  the 
purpose  of  Jesus  Christ  for  those  who  love  Him. 

If  you  are  governed  by  some  little  preconceived  no- 
tion of  your  own,  or  by  some  tradition  of  the  elders, 
you  will  be  wrong,  but  if  you  are  dominated,  propelled, 
constrained,  infused  by  the  mind  of  Jesus  Christ,  you 
are  right. 

Now  He  prays  for  His  people  in  this  wonderful 
prayer,  and  if  you  are  one  of  His  people.  He  prays  for 
you.  He  didn't  say  He  prays  for  you  if  you  are  a 
Baptist,  or  if  you  are  a  Presbyterian,  or  if  you  are  a 
Methodist,  or  if  you  are  an  Episcopalian,  or  if  you 
are  a  member  of  a  Christian  church,  or  a  Salvationist, 
or  a  member  of  any  other  denomination. 

He  didn't  say  he  is  praying  for  that  kind  of  a  per- 
son. He  says  he  is  praying  for  those  that  belong  to 
Him — and  you  can  label  yourself  without  belonging 
to  Christ.  You  can  write  a  label  on  yourself  without 
being  a  Christian.     You  can  be  wrongly  labelled. 

If  you  label  yourself,  the  chances  are  you  are 
wrongly  labelled.    When  God  labels  a  rose.  He  makes 

132 


UNDERSTANDING  OF  THE  PRUDENT         133 

no  mistake;  when  He  labels  a  carnation,  He  makes  no 
mistake;  when  He  labels  a  lily,  you  know  it.  When 
He  rests  in  your  heart,  the  world  will  know  it.  It 
will  discover  it. 

Like  a  French  lady  in  one  of  my  services,  she 
said  that  men  had  told  her  many  times  that  her  sins 
were  forgiven,  but  she  said,  "My  heart  never  discov- 
ered it,  but  the  moment  Jesus  told  me,  my  heart  knew 
it."  When  Jesus  tells  a  thing  to  a  soul  that  soul  knows 
it. 

You  never  have  to  put  a  badge  on  a  spring  morn- 
ing. Nobody  thinks  of  labelling  a  spring  morning. 
Spring  labels  herself.  And  you  never  need  a  badge 
on  the  sky  when  the  sun  comes  up,  saying,  "This  is  the 
sun."  The  sun  does  not  need  a  forerunner.  When 
the  sun  comes  out,  the  little  flowers  all  know  it,  and 
the  shadows  are  all  chased  away.  When  the  sun  comes 
out,  the  world  knows  it.  When  a  child  of  God  wears 
the  beautiful  garments  of  a  Christian  life,  the  world 
knows  it. 

"I  pray  not  for  the  world,"  Jesus  said.  He  prayed 
for  those  that  came  out  of  the  world.  If  you  are  not 
a  child  of  God,  He  did  not  pray  for  you  in  that 
prayer.  He  has  left  you  out  unless  you  are  a  child 
of  God.  But  He  did  pray  for  "them  also  which  shall 
believe  on  me  through  their  word." 

When  you  touch  this  prayer,  you  are  touching  the 
divine  springs.  You  are  not  touching  the  superficiali- 
ties of  life,  but  you  are  getting  down  to  the  divinity 
of  things. 

"I  pray  not  for  the  world,  but  for  them  which  Thou 
hast  given  me,  that  thou  shouldst  keep  them  from  the 


134.  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

evil.  They  are  not  of  the  world,  even  as  I  am  not  of 
the  world.    Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth." 

You  know,  now,  you  Christians,  what  the  purpose 
of  God  is.  He  wants  to  keep  you  from  the  suspicion  of 
evil.  Jesus  is  able  to  keep  you  from  evil,  and  this  re- 
vival will  have  been  of  immeasurable  benefit  if  you 
continue  to  live  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  will  never  be  over 
as  long  as  God  is  on  his  throne  and  as  long  as  a  lin- 
gering spark  of  grace  flickers  in  anybody's  heart  as  the 
result  of  it. 

For  the  grace  of  God  endure th  forever. 

Moses  may  come;  Elijah  may  come.  Paul  and 
Peter  and  James  and  John  may  come  and  pass  on, 
but  Jesus  abides.  He  is  able  to  keep  you  from  the 
very  suspicion  of  evil.  And  I  want  you  to  believe 
that.  I  want  you  to  believe  that  God's  arms  are 
around  you  beginners  in  the  Church  of  God,  and  they 
will  not  fail.  For  He  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  forever.  "I  will  keep  thee  lest  anything  harm 
thee."     He  will  love  you  as  the  apple  of  His  eye. 

I  will  tell  you  a  little  out  of  my  heart.  My  father 
and  his  two  brothers  were  converted  almost  at  the 
same  time.  They  were  all  three  converted  in  one  week. 
Two  were  converted  one  night  and  the  other  on  the 
Sunday  morning  following  and  my  father  was  the 
least  of  them  and  he  was  over  six  feet  in  height.  And 
anybody  who  knew  those  gipsy  men  and  came  to  hear 
them  sing  and  pray  got  lifted  a  little  nearer  to  heaveru 

Everybody  fell  in  love  with  them.  And  everybody 
wanted  them  to  come  to  places  to  sing  or  to  tell 
their  conversion.  And  the  three  brothers  made  up 
their  minds  never  to  be  parted.     So  that  if  anybody 


UNDERSTANDING  OF  THE  PRUDENT         135 

wanted  one  to  come  for  a  service,  all  three  had  to  be 
invited. 

I  remember  once  somebody  invited  them  to  come 
down  from  London  to  a  provincial  city,  v^here  we 
had  camped  for  the  week;  and  when  they  got  down 
there  the  week  became  another  week  and  finally  the 
weeks  stretched  themselves  to  six  weeks  before  they 
came  home  again.  And  they  were  the  longest  six 
weeks  I  have  ever  lived  through.  For  in  our  tent,  we 
had  no  mother.  In  the  next  tent,  there  was  a  mother 
and  when  our  father  was  away  there  was  no  one  left 
to  keep  us  company.  There  was  Emily,  of  course, 
the  eldest,  but  she  was  only  a  girl.  Oh!  those  six 
weeks !    At  last,  a  letter  came  from  father  which  said : 

"We  will  be  home  to-morrow." 

And  you  know  we  didn't  know  much  about  trains 
and  schedules,  so  we  got  up  and  got  ready  to  receive 
them  at  6  o'clock  that  summer  morning,  but  it  was 
6  o'clock  that  night  before  they  came  and  we  had 
waited  twelve  hours  for  them.  I  don't  know  how 
many  times  I  washed  my  face  that  day. 

I  was  waiting  for  my  father.  I  loved  him.  And 
when  he  came  to  the  wagon  and  sat  down  and  held 
the  baby  girl  in  his  lap  and  kissed  her,  because  she 
was  the  youngest,  my  turn  came  next,  I  stood  there, 
waiting  for  the  same  love  that  my  father  was  bestow- 
ing upon  her.  I  was  hungry  for  the  same  attention. 
But  it  seemed  to  me  that  she  was  getting  it  all,  and 
I  couldn't  stand  it  any  longer.  So  I  said,  "Come  out, 
it  is  my  turn." 

"You  can't  take  me  out  of  my  daddy's  arms,"  she 
said. 


136  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

"I  know/'  I  said,  "I  can't  do  that,  but  there  is 
room  for  me  there,  and  I  am  coming  in  too." 

And  I  want  you  timid  people  to  know  that  your 
Father's  arms  are  about  you  and  it  is  His  purpose  to 
keep  you,  and  Jesus  prays  that  you  will  be  kept  close 
to  Him. 

This  is  one  of  the  things  He  prays  for  in  that  won- 
derful prayer,  and  the  other  thing  He  prays  for  is 
that  you  may  be  united. 

He  wants  you  to  get  so  that  you  are  wieldable. 
Look  at  your  four  fingers  and  a  thumb.  It  is  not 
much  to  look  at  if  we  take  them  separately,  but  you 
unite  it  and  it  is  a  weapon. 

And  when  the  Church  of  God  is  divided  into  sects, 
the  Devil  will  play  hide  and  seek  with  you,  but  when 
you  get  united,  you  will  shake  the  foundations  of  Hell. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  things  of  these  days  is 
that  we  are  unable  to  distinguish  between  denomina- 
tions; we  are  neither  Baptists,  nor  Methodists,  nor 
Congregationalists,  nor  Presbyterians.  And  all  of 
you  are  guessing  what  I  am.  And  none  of  you  know. 
You  all  think  I  belong  to  your  own  Church  because 
I  have  got  close  to  the  very  soul  and  brushed  against 
the  very  foundation  of  your  reHgious  life.  And  the 
nearer  you  get  to  the  centre,  the  nearer  we  are  one 
in  Jesus  Christ. 

Jesus  prays  that  we  may  be  one.  Oh!  just  one  in 
Him.  If  you  take  a  bundle  of  sticks  you  can  sepa- 
rately break  every  one  of  them,  but  if  you  bind  them 
up  again  into  a  bundle,  you  can  try  all  day  and  never 
break  them. 

The  Devil  loves  a  divided  Church.    The  Devil  can 


UNDERSTANDING  OF  THE  PRUDENT        137 

do  a  lot  with  human  nature.  And  it  is  human  nature 
to  divide.  When  Jesus  was  on  earth  John  came  run- 
ning up  to  Him  and  said,  "Master!'* 

"Well,  John." 

"We  saw  a  man  casting  out  devils  in  Thy  name  a 
while  ago,  and  we  bade  him  stop." 

"Why?"  said  the  Lord. 

"He  didn't  sing  out  of  our  hymn  book." 

And  John  might  have  said  he  wasn't  a  Methodist, 
or  a  Baptist.  "We  stopped  him,"  said  John.  "He 
was  unauthorized.  He  didn't  belong  with  us,  and 
we  stopped  him." 

But  Jesus  said,  "John,  forbid  him  not,  for  he  that 
is  not  against  us  is  on  our  side." 

If  you  see  a  man  doing  a  bit  of  work  for  Christ, 
if  he  is  doing  it  as  a  Methodist,  or  a  Baptist,  or  a  lay- 
man, shout,  "Hallelujah!" 

The  main  thing  is  to  have  the  devils  cast  out. 

Have  a  big  heart  and  have  a  bit  broade**  mind. 
Don't  be  a  sectarian  or  an  insectarian.  Don't  you 
be  so  small. 

You  know  Scientists — and  I  like  Lome  Scientists. 
I  read  a  scientific  paper  in  which  there  was  an  article 
on  Nature  and  the  writer  was  learnedly  describing 
those  little  mudholes  in  the  meadows  of  England 
where  the  cows  go  to  drink.  A  small  pond  is  usually 
muddy :  there  is  no  stream  running  into  it  and  no 
stream  running  out  of  it.  Alid  the  scientist  went 
on  to  say,  because  there  was  no  stream  running  in 
or  out  of  the  pond,  whatever  of  life  in  that  mudhole 
in  fish,  or  snails,  or  vegetable  life,  and  of  insect  life, 
knew  nothing  else.     The  pond  was  the  universe  to 


138  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

whatever  there  was  of  Hfe  in  it.  If  there  were  a 
stream  running  through  that  pond  the  life  might  have 
known  that  there  was  a  world  above  it,  and  if  a  stream 
had  run  out  and  down  from  that  pond,  the  fish  and 
plants  and  insects,  which  lived  there,  would  have 
known  of  a  world  below  them,  or  above.  As  it  was, 
they  could  only  see  the  muddy,  stagnant  universe  in 
which  they  lived. 

Can  you  see  yourself? 

Don't  you  build  a  mudhole  and  call  it  a  palace,  and 
don't  you  dig  a  hole  and  call  it  a  universe,  and  don't 
you  build  a  structure  with  four  walls  and  a  ceiling 
and  call  it  the  church.  God's  Church  takes  in  the 
last  man  on  earth  that  believes  in  Jesus.  That  is 
another  thing  He  prays  for. 

And  He  prays  for  something  else.  He  prays  that 
we  may  be  perfect.  He  prays  that  we  may  be  sancti- 
fied by  the  truth.  That  every  power  in  us  may  be  in 
harmony  with  the  divine  will.  That  mind,  heart, 
body,  may  be  kept  without  any  reservation  for  His 
service  alone.  That  we  may  be  made  perfect,  even 
as  the  Father  in  Heaven  is  perfect.  And  He  can 
make  you  and  me  perfect  and  He  can  make  your 
heart  and  mine  pure  and  good.  He  can  make  our 
hearts  His  temple.    That  is  another  thing  He  prays  for. 

And  He  prays  this,  "Father,  I  will  that  they  also, 
whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me  where  I  am; 
that  may  behold  my  glory." 

You  realise  what  that  means,  that  some  day  we 
are  going  to  be  with  Him  and  see  Him  as  He  is, 
and  we  are  going  to  be  like  Him. 

A  lady  said  to  me  not  long  ago  in  one  of  these 


UNDERSTANDING  OF  THE  PRUDENT        139 

campaigns,  ''Gipsy  Smith,  what  a  starry  crown  you 
will  get.'' 

''Madame,  I  don't  care  whether  I  get  a  crown  or 
not,"  I  said,  "if  He  wins  what  he  died  for.  My  con- 
cern is  to  be  of  service  to  Him  if  it  only  means  the 
bringing  of  one  lost  soul  to  His  feet."  And  my  time, 
my  heart  is  concentrated  on  doing  this  to-day  and 
every  day,  and  not  upon  the  crown.  And  I  don't 
crave  for  a  mansion  in  the  skies,  and  although  the 
streets  may  be  of  gold  and  the  walls  of  jasper,  I  don't 
crave  them.  And  talk  about  the  seats  of  the  worthy, 
they  don't  interest  me  somehow.  But  I  tell  you  what 
does  appeal  to  me.  If  you  will  give  me  Jesus  and 
my  mother,  and  my  father,  you  can  put  me  back  in 
the  old  gipsy  tent  and  it  will  be  Heaven.  I  don't 
care  whether  Heaven  is  paved  with  golden  streets  or 
not,  if  you  will  give  me  Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul.  The 
One  I  have  worked  for  and  longed  to  see,  and  give 
me  my  father  and  my  mother,  that  is  the  Heaven 
I  want.  I  pray  that  they  may  be  one  and  perfect  and 
some  day  be  with  me  and  beside  me  in  glory. 

Do  you  wish  to  make  that  prayer  possible?  Are 
you  willing  to  comply  with  the  conditions.  Then 
make  absolute  surrender  to  Jesus  Christ  and  live  in 
vital  contact  with  Him,  and  make  your  life  count  for 
Christ  every  day  of  the  year,  and  in  that  way  you 
will  be  helping  to  answer  the  prayer  of  our  Lord, 
"That  we  may  be  sanctified,  that  we  may  be  kept, 
that  we  may  be  made  one,  that  we  may  be  made  per- 
fect." And  then  some  day  we  shall  be  with  Him,  to 
behold  His  glory. 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES 


XX 

TWENTY  TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES 


Then  shall  they  also  answer  Him,  saying,  Lord 
when  saw  we  Thee  a  hungered,  or  athirst,  or  a 
stranger,  or  naked,  or  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  did 
not  minister  unto  thee  ? 

Then  shall  he  answer  them,  saying.  Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the 
least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  me. — Matthew  25  :  44-45. 

The  first  thing  a  convert  to  Christianity  thinks  of 
is  the  other  fellow.  How  often  have  I  seen  people 
at  a  revival  fall  on  their  knees  and  call  out,  'Tray 
for  my  mother,"  'Tray  for  my  sister,"  or  *Tray  for 
my  husband." 

Why,  if  the  Christian  spirit  should  gain  a  stronger 
hold,  there  would  even  be  fewer  automobile  accidents. 
People  would  never  forget  the  rights  of  others.  The 
man  who  takes  his  pleasure  or  profit  at  the  expense 
of  others  is  committing  a  great  wrong.  No  one  has 
any  business  hiring  actors  or  other  performers  to 
risk  their  lives  or  their  souls  for  his  amusement. 

Self  becomes  to  the  Christian  a  foreign  thing.  He 
thinks  of  others  at  all  times.  Who  saves  his  life  shall 
lose  it.  I  am  most  truly  my  own  when  I  have  given 
every  vestige  of  myself.  I  am  most  truly  alive  when 
willing  to  die  for  others. 

In  the  91st  Psalm  you  will  find  in  one  verse:  "I 

143 


144  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

will  say  of  the  Lord,  He  is  my  refuge  and  my  fortress: 
my  God;  in  Him  will  I  trust."  In  the  next  verse  the 
psalmist  expresses  the  idea,  'Tm  safe,  you  may  be 
saved,  too,"  in  these  words:  ^'Surely  He  shall  deliver 
thee  from  the  snare  of  the  fowler  and  from  the 
noisome  pestilence." 

The  selfish  life  does  not  think  of  anybody.  When 
one  becomes  a  Christian,  self  goes  with  the  last  road. 
We  save  our  soul  in  saving  others.  It  is  not  the 
question  if  that  man  out  there  will  be  saved  if  I  do 
not  go  to  him,  but  the  question  is,  Will  I  be  saved  if 
I  don't? 

Socrates  said,  "Know  thyself." 

Jesus  said,  "Deny  thyself." 

The  real  Christian  studies  large  maps;  he  can't 
help  it.  It  is  a  big  thing  to  be  a  Christian.  It  re- 
quires big  thinking  and  big  living.  And  it  is  possible 
to  any  man  of  strong  will  or  strong  faith. 

II 

For  ye  shall  go  out  with  joy,  and  be  led  forth  with 
peace :  the  mountains  and  the  hills  shall  break  forth 
before  you  into  singing,  and  all  the  trees  of  the  field 
shall  clap  their  hands. — Isaiah  55  :  12. 

Religion  is  never  a  killjoy.  All  God  means  to  kill 
is  the  ugly,  the  mean,  and  the  sinful. 

Yet  many  think  the  sadder  they  are,  the  safer. 
They  go  around  with  faces  as  long  as  a  wet  week. 
But  sanctimoniousness  is  not  sanctity. 

There  is  more  religion  in  a  hearty  laugh  than  in  a 
grouch.    Let  there  be  more  joy  and  less  jaw. 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  145 

I  remember  seeing  in  a  religious  weekly  in  England 
a  few  years  ago  an  advertisement  by  a  lady  and  a 
gentleman  who  were  going  to  take  a  trip  around  the 
world.  She  wanted  to  engage  a  companion,  "Chris- 
tian woman  preferred,  but  she  must  be  joyful." 

Can  you  imagine  anything  more  ironical  than  this 
— and  the  sadness  of  it.  One  chief  characteristic  of 
a  true  Christian  is  happiness,  smiles,  laughter.  "The 
joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength,"  and  "Then  was  our 
mouth  filled  with  laughter." 

There  are  far  too  many  briars  and  thorns  in  this 
life.  People  don't  draw  close  enough  together  for 
fear  of  getting  scratched.  What  religion  is  meant  to 
do  is  to  take  the  scratch  out  of  us.  Less  briars,  more 
roses,  more  violets,  lilies  of  the  valley  and  perfume 
of  the  beauty  of  the  Lord. 

I  say  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  I  know  that  there 
is  no  real  Christian  life  without  its  sorrows  and  its 
suffering.  Through  my  life  God  means  to  bring  re- 
freshment and  inspiration  to  those  about  me.  After 
the  storm  we  see  the  rainbow  of  hope,  and  He  takes 
the  sorrow  out  of  the  heart  by  removing  the  curse 
of  sin. 

Religion  was  never  meant  to  make  an  undertaker 
weep.     Let  there  be  joy! 


in 

Modern  man  is  very  clever,  and  no  doubt  some 
of  his  achievements  would  seem  supernatural  to  the 
primitive  people  of  the  past. 

There  is  danger,  of  course,  that  in  their  pride  over 


146  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

brilliant  inventions  or  remarkable  discoveries,  some 
people  to-day  should  forget  the  one  behind  these  scien- 
tific wonders. 

It  would  be  possible  for  an  uneducated  race  to 
confuse  an  aviator  for  an  angel. 

Some  educated  people,  in  much  the  same  way,  may 
consider  that  they  have  conquered  divine  laws  and 
freed  themselves  from  dependence  on  any  power  ex- 
cept that  within  themselves. 

But  the  foundations  were  not  laid  by  man. 

The  possibilities  for  inventions  existed  long  be- 
fore man  suddenly  stumbled  upon  something  illu- 
mined by  God. 

Who  put  the  coal,  the  iron,  the  copper  and  all 
the  minerals  beneath  the  earth  for  man  to  mine?  It 
was  God,  making  wise  provisions  for  man's  need. 

The  airplane  can't  stay  up,  but  must  come  down. 
There  are  limits  to  all  the  powers  of  man.  Once  in 
a  while  in  my  country,  one  comes  upon  a  road  across 
a  private  estate,  which  is  open  to  the  public  except  on 
one  day  each  year. 

On  that  one  day  the  owner  bars  the  way  in  order 
that  his  ownership  may  not  be  forgotten. 

Once  in  a  while  God  puts  the  chains  across. 

Man  can  harness  the  forces  of  nature;  he  can 
hardly  be  said  to  master  them,  but  only  to  work  with 
them.  He  can  invent  machinery,  but  he  did  not  in- 
vent the  materials. 

With  all  his  cleverness,  he  can't  invent  anything 
to  heal  a  broken  heart,  kiss  a  tear  into  a  jewel,  mend 
a  broken  life  or  take  the  burden  of  misery  from  a 
guilty  soul. 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  147 

I  know  something  that  will  do  that,  for  all  who 
come  unto  God  through  Him  whose  name  is  Jesus. 


IV 

The  arena  of  woman's  toil  is  in  public  places  to-day, 
but  she  can  still  be  as  close  to  the  angels  as  ever. 

Instead  of  finding  work  at  home  many  are  forced 
to  enter  offices,  mills,  shops,  banks,  warehouses  and 
almost  every  conceivable  line  of  trade. 

Every  one  likes  to  see  a  woman  remain  a  woman, 
and  whether  she  is  strong  as  a  mountain  or  fresh  as 
a  rose,  she  can  still  hold  her  true  place. 

While  she  has  more  freedom,  equality  and  higher 
education,  we  still  ought  to  remember  that  she  is  a 
woman. 

The  memory  of  mother,  sister  and  wife  ought  to 
force  upon  the  mind  of  every  man  who  associates 
with  a  woman  in  a  business  way,  that  she  is  entitled 
to  the  same  consideration  as  his  own  womenfolk. 

The  desire  to  have  one's  own  children  treated 
well  ought  to  lead  every  employer  to  treat  those  who 
serve  him  in  the  same  way. 

On  the  other  hand,  woman  ought  not  expose  herself 
to  or  expect  any  other  treatment.  She  should  check 
immediately  any  word  or  action  that  trespasses  on 
virtue. 

If  a  woman  is  true  to  herself  and  to  her  sisters, 
and,  mind  you,  she  has  only  to  be  true  and  every  man 
will  respect  her,  she  can  command  any  treatment  she 
really  wants.  Lots  of  beautiful  things  come  to  us  if 
we  are  only  good,  honest,  pure  and  true. 


148  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

I  cannot  imagine  Mary,  the  mother  of  our  Lord, 
with  skirts  too  short,  wearing  bobbed  hair,  smoking 
or  drinking. 

I  beheve  a  woman  has  as  much  right  to  smoke  as 
a  man,  but  I  can't  imagine  Mary  doing  it. 

When  I  see  a  woman  smoke  it  hurts  me,  way 
down  deep,  and  I  beheve  it  hurts  other  men,  too. 

The  Bible  is  the  foundation  of  woman's  rights, 
but  further  than  that  Christianity  has  taught  men 
to  reverence  women. 

It  is  among  the  idle  rich  that  the  most  liberties 
are  now  being  taken.  The  morale  of  women  workers 
is,  on  the  whole,  sound. 

And  to  all  women  I  would  say,  think  long  and 
hard  before  you  throw  away  any  of  your  title  to 
the  respectful  admiration  of  men. 

God  meant  woman  to  be  a  mother — the  sort  of 
mother  to  whom  her  children  can  look  up,  and  upon 
whom  in  years  to  come  they  will  look  back  with  a 
love  and  understanding  that  influences  their  whole 
attitude  toward  the  sex. 


Whichever  way  one  turns,  unrest,  confusion,  chaos 
and  wild  passions  possess  the  breasts  of  multitudes. 
Jealousy,  hatred  and  envy  are  reigning  supreme  in  the 
minds  of  men. 

We  read  in  the  scriptures  of  one  person  who  had 
seven  devils  in  her,  and  one  man  had  enough  in 
him  to  drown  two  thousand  hogs  when  they  were  cast 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  149 

out  of  him.  Nations  are  like  that,  and  they  can  be 
saved  only  by  casting  out  the  devils. 

As  we  look  across  the  face  of  the  globe  to-day  and 
see  the  conflict  as  manifested,  what  is  there  beneath 
all  that  we  don't  see?  What  about  the  inward  rumb- 
lings that  only  ears  divine  listen  to,  and  the  seething 
unrest  which  the  human  eye  cannot  detect? 

But,  ah,  every  honest,  intelligent  man  knows  just 
a  little  about  it  if  he  will  look  within  his  own 
poor,  distracted  heart. 

And  as  I  sit  here  this  morning  and  think  of  these 
things,  I  cannot  help  but  ask  who  is  sufficient  to  the 
task?  Is  there  anybody  that  can  step  in  amidst  the 
dark  confusion  and  world  misery  and  still  its  storm 
and  hush  its  tempests? 

And  my  heart  leaps  up  with  a  great  bound,  saying, 
"Yes,  Jesus,  who  stood  on  the  Galilean  lake  and 
lifted  His  hand  amidst  the  tempest  and  said,  Teace, 
be  still,'  and  the  wind  and  waves  obeyed  and  crept 
away  in  silence  to  lick  His  feet." 

If  the  world  would  but  invite  Him  to  enter  its 
life  and  its  sorrows,  He  would  come  and  point  a 
way  out.  He  would  bring  peace  because  He  would 
still  the  storm  of  sin.  That's  the  cause  of  all  the 
confusion  and  strife. 

Wherever  Jesus  is  listened  to,  obeyed  and  enthroned, 
men  become  as  brothers.  What  is  true  of  individuals, 
homes,  hamlets  and  cities,  is  true  also  of  nations  and 
would  be  true  of  the  world,  and  it  only  needs  to  be 
given  a  trial. 

Peace  doesn't  follow  the  munition  train;  it  follows 


150  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

in  the  wake  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.    That's  the  way 
to  brotherhood. 


VI 

We  stand  to-day  nineteen  centuries  nearer  to  Christ. 
Instead  of  the  figure  on  the  cross  growing  dimmer,  it 
is  clearer  now  than  in  those  first  days.  People  then 
saw  Him  at  close  range,  defeated,  frustrated,  and 
apparently  conquered;  misjudged,  lied  about,  perse- 
cuted and  condemned  to  all  the  cruelties  of  a  com- 
mon soldiers'  barracks;  finally  hanged  like  a  felon 
between  two  thieves. 

How  could  they  reconcile  these  experiences  with 
the  words  uttered  only  a  few  hours  before:  "Be  of 
good  cheer,  I  have  overcome  the  world"? 

To  multitudes  of  people  in  those  days  Jesus  must 
have  seemed  a  contradiction.  All  that  arose  "because 
they  were  slow  of  heart  to  believe  the  Scriptures." 

But  we  are  standing  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
we  look  back  and  know.  The  evidence  of  the  centuries 
is  the  triumph  of  Christ  and  His  cross. 

All  the  good  in  the  world,  all  the  upHft,  all  the 
love,  all  righteous  sentiment,  every  benevolent  institu- 
tion, every  soothing  influence  which  makes  the  sor- 
rows of  the  world  easier  to  bear  and  the  burdens 
lighter,  have  resulted  from  Christ's  coming  and  Christ's 
loving  presence. 

There  are  multitudes  who  see  grief  thus  wiped 
away  from  sorrow's  face,  and  who  realise  that  the 
world  is  steadily  growing  better,  yet  do  not  connect 
these  things  with  Christ.     These  are  his  direct  fruits. 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  151 

It  can  still  be  said  that  He  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day 
and  forever. 

As  the  apostle  said,  'We  love  because  He  first 
loved  us."  The  love  of  God  in  Christ  is  the  inspira- 
tion of  everything  beautiful  in  this  v^orld. 


VII 

Some  one  says  that  Christianity  is  all  very  fine,  but 
that  the  trouble  is  that  it  has  never  been  tried.  In  a 
large  way  this  is  true:  God  has  never  been  given  a 
fair  chance. 

Take  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Suppose  every 
man  and  v^oman  in  Omaha  just  took  that  to  heart  for 
twenty-four  hours,  and  said  nothing  and  did  nothing 
in  deed  or  thought  which  they  could  not  reconcile  or 
harmonize  with  the  teachings  to  which  Jesus  Christ 
gave  utterance  in  that  wonderful  sermon. 

Can  anybody  in  the  wildest  flight  of  imagination 
estimate  what  would  happen?  Why,  you  couldn't  put 
it  into  words.  Any  vocabulary  would  be  absolutely 
worthless  to  describe  what  changes  would  come  about 
in  a  single  day  if  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  were  to 
be  practised.  And  no  one  would  want  to  go  back  to 
the  old  sinful  ways,  for  there  is  more  happiness  in 
doing  right. 

The  nearest  I  can  come  to  expressing  it  is  to  say 
that  heaven  would  have  come  to  earth.  And  that's 
what  Jesus  Christ  came  to  do,  to  teach  men  and 
women  to  live  on  earth  as  they  would  in  heaven.  This 
is  the  meaning  of  His  great  prayer,  "Thy  will  be  done. 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven." 


152  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

But  some  will  say,  "How  is  this  to  be  done?"  My 
answer  is  simple.  Christ's  words  and  will  can  only 
be  fulfilled  by  me,  a  human  being,  as  I  honestly  seek 
to  understand  the  Christian  spirit. 

Men  boast  of  the  Golden  Rule.  They'll  never  un- 
derstand or  be  able  to  practise  the  Golden  Rule  until 
they  are  born  again  into  the  spirit  of  the  nature  of 
Him  who  taught  it.  "The  letter  alone  killeth.  It  is 
the  spirit  which  giveth  life." 

The  simple  reason  it  is  not  practised  is  that  men 
are  dominated  by  self.  But  Christ  did  not  come  for 
self,  but  to  give  Himself. 

What  this  world  needs  is  thorough-going  Christians. 
It  does  no  good  to  tinker.  We've  got  to  start  with 
the  whole  man,  not  at  the  finger  tips,  but  deep  within 
the  heart. 

The  thought  I  wish  to  leave  is  that  irreligion,  which 
is  responsible  for  the  misery  of  the  world,  is  not 
a  skin  complaint. 


VIII 

I  read  the  other  day  of  a  cashier  who  embezzled 
$ii,ooo  in  order  to  have  the  means  to  shine  in  the 
eyes  of  the  woman  he  was  wooing.  A  woman  who 
would  lead  a  man  thus  to  live  beyond  his  means  is 
as  bad  as  the  man.  Even  in  these  days  of  shallow 
morality  and  false  values,  it  is  plain  to  all  that  no 
such  marriage  could  be  a  success. 

What  sort  of  woman  makes  a  good  wife?  First 
of  all  she  must  be  not  only  lover,  but  friend. 

When  the  glamour  of  the  honeymoon  has  worn 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  153 

away,  she  must  be  his  companion  and  in  the  day  of 
stress  and  strain,  an  anchor  and  a  source  of  strength 
and  inspiration.  Blessed  is  she,  who,  if  storms  arise, 
will  be  strong  enough  and  true  enough  to  say  to  her 
husband,  *1  have  shared  your  joys,  I  am  here  to  share 
your  troubles." 

And  if  health  and  wealth  and  friends  be  gone,  if 
she  is  the  kind  of  girl  to  make  a  man  happy,  she  will 
put  her  arms  about  his  neck,  look  into  his  face  and  say, 
"Darling,  though  everything  is  gone,  you've  got  me. 
I'm  here  to  stay.  You  took  me  for  better  or  for 
worse,  and  I  am  not  the  kind  to  forsake  you  or  show 
less  love  simply  because  ill  fortune  has  overtaken  you." 

That's  the  kind  of  a  wife  a  wise  man  wants,  and 
she  is  to  be  found. 

A  pretty  character  will  outshine  a  pretty  face. 
Assuming  the  fellow  is  worthy — what  he  ought  to  be, 
clean,  straight,  pure — he  deserves  something  more  than 
a  butterfly  or  a  model  for  smart  clothes.  If  he  is  not, 
he  ought  not  to  demand  the  love  of  a  sweet,  pure  girl. 
Let  him  marry  one  of  his  own  kind.  A  man  can't 
expect  more  of  a  girl  than  he  is  prepared  to  give. 
Home  training,  a  mother's  influence,  Sunday  School 
and  Church,  all  influences  for  eternal  right,  are  re- 
quired in  the  blood  and  bone  to  make  this  kind  of  a 
woman,  as  well  as  a  real  man.  Only  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  can  produce  noble,  pure  and  strong  men 
and  women. 

I  think  of  what  Solomon  well  said :  "Whoso  findeth 
a  wife  findeth  a  good  thing."  He  tried  many,  but  he 
was  thinking  of  the  kind  of  wife  I've  been  describing. 

The  best  wife  is  she  who  is  a  good  chum  to  her 


154  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

husband,  a  pure  mother  to  her  children  and  a  builder 
of  home. 

IX 

Love  God,  love  the  world. 

Trouble  came  into  the  world  with  disobedience  to 
God.  Then  man  began  to  choose  his  own  way,  and 
sowed  the  seeds  which  have  brought  forth  the  harvest 
of  alienation  from  God  and  separation  from  our 
brothers.    This  means  discord,  bitterness  and  strife. 

Apart  from  God  the  heart  of  man  grows  worse. 
Instead  of  love  for  God  and  man,  the  tendency  is  for 
rebellion  against  God  and  hatred  of  one  another. 
God's  programme  of  redemption  is  to  correct  all  that. 

The  divine  purpose  does  not  merely  take  in  this 
man  or  that  little  group,  but  the  whole  of  human 
kind.  He  wills  that  men  should  brothers  be,  the  wide 
world  o'er. 

This  is  to  come  about  by  saving  man  from  sin. 
God  deals  with  causes.  He  is  seeking  to  get  rid  of 
the  thing  that  is  eating  the  life  out  of  the  body  politic. 
When  that's  gone  there  will  be  love  for  God  and 
love  for  our  fellowmen. 

There  will  be  no  room  in  the  heart  for  doing  my 
brother.  The  Golden  Rule  will  be  the  order  of  the 
day.  Rightness  and  righteousness  will  cover  the  earth, 
as  waters  cover  the  deep.  God's  purpose  is  not  a 
trickle,  it's  an  ocean.  As  the  angels  sang,  "Peace  on 
earth,  good  will  to  man." 

Socially,  economically  and  universally,  there  is 
work  for  all.  There  is  bread  enough  and  to  spare. 
But  all  must  be  willing  to  take  their  just  share  for 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  155 

the  common  good.  There  must  be  no  idlers,  no  one 
living  the  selfish  life,  but  all  with  the  open  hand  and 
the  ever  ready  heart.  There  is  a  place  for  all  who 
are  born  into  this  world,  in  work,  service  and  reward. 
God  put  enough  food  on  the  earth  for  every  bird, 
but  they  have  to  scratch  for  it. 


Brush  the  dust  off  your  Bible.  Half  the  sorrows 
of  the  world  come  about  because  people  don't  read 
their  Bible.  They  simply  don't  know  and  can't  under- 
stand the  great  truths  it  contains. 

Every  one  likes  to  hear  a  secret,  and  the  divine 
confidences  and  revelations  are  fascinating  from 
every  point  of  view. 

Jesus  once  said  to  the  people,  "Search  the  Scriptures  ; 
for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life:  and  they 
are  they  which  testify  of  me." 

In  that  wonderful  walk  which  He  had  with  His 
disciples  to  Emmaus,  after  the  resurrection.  He  said, 
after  they  had  expressed  their  unbelief :  "Oh,  fools, 
and  slow  of  heart  to  believe  all  that  the  prophets 
have  spoken:  ought  not  Christ  to  have  suffered  these 
things,  and  to  enter  into  His  glory?"  The  next  verse 
tells  us  much:  "And  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the 
prophets.  He  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  things  concerning  Himself." 

These  two  men,  after  it  was  all  over,  said :  "Did 
not  our  hearts  burn  within  us  while  He  talked  with  us 
by  the  way?"  Now,  then,  all  He  had  done  was  to 
make  the  Scriptures  live. 


156  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

Many  really  good  people,  anxious  to  do  what's  right, 
fall  into  all  kinds  of  blunders  and  some  are  led  away 
by  popular  heresies  which  are  easy  to  the  flesh,  simply 
because  they  don't  read  and  ponder  and  inwardly  digest 
the  Hving,  abiding  words  of  the  Lord. 

The  greatest  among  writers  and  statesmen  have 
been  devoted  readers  of  the  Bible.  The  works  of 
Shakespeare,  Scott,  Dickens,  Emerson  and  all  the 
classic  writers  are  saturated  with  Scriptural  phrases. 
In  world  politics  it  is  the  same.  What  strengthened 
Lincoln,  John  Bright  and  William  Gladstone  and  gave 
them  their  powers  of  expression  but  knowledge  of  the 
Word  of  God? 

Jesus,  when  only  twelve  years  old,  sat  among  the  doc- 
tors of  thought  and  literature,  and  He  sits  there  to-day, 
while  the  greatest  masters  bow  in  His  presence. 

If  we  only  will  read  our  Bible  and  listen  to  its  echo 
within  us,  we  will  not  fail  to  bow  to  righteousness, 
take  off  our  hats  to  truth,  and  like  Moses,  our  shoes 
as  well,  feeling  that  we  are  standing  on  holy  ground. 

XI 

When  people  get  the  real  thing,  they  will  show  as 
much  enthusiasm  over  their  religion  as  their  sports. 

Pleasure  is  a  passing  scene,  gone  in  an  hour.  Faith 
will  outlive  the  stars.  I  prefer  to  hitch  my  life  to 
eternity. 

Almost  $1,000,000  was  spent  for  seats  at  the  world 
series  base  ball  games.  Another  $1,000,000  was  spent 
for  a  prize  fight.  If  men  of  the  world  value  their 
enjoyment  so  highly,  what  ought  Christian  men  and 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  157 

women  to  do  in  return  for  the  highest  joy  that  life 
can  hold? 

Nothing  in  the  world  so  arouses  my  enthusiasm  as 
my  religion;  no  thrill  can  equal  that  of  seeing  a  man 
turn  his  face  from  sin.  What  can  any  one  see  in  a 
foot  ball  or  base  ball  game  every  day  ?  I  can  understand 
enjoying  it  once  a  week,  and  I  like  a  game  of  golf 
once  in  a  while  myself,  but  kicking,  throwing  or 
chasing  a  ball  is  far  from  being  the  chief  end  of  man. 

The  cry  of  a  heart  in  hunger  and  despair  for  new 
life  through  Jesus  Christ  excites  me  as  nothing  else 
can  do. 

Where  a  man  works  just  for  things  he  can  see 
and  handle,  for  the  superficial  pleasures  of  earth,  he 
has  nothing  for  the  storm.  When  the  cyclone  of 
trouble  strikes,  where  is  he  to  find  shelter?  When 
health  gives  way,  when  riches  take  wings  and  fly  off 
and  sorrows  come,  what  is  left  for  him?  Nothing 
but  darkness. 

The  man  who  loves  God  and  has  made  a  friend  of 
Jesus  Christ  seeks  to  have  him  in  all  his  pleasures. 
Then  in  an  evil  day,  he  finds  he  has  a  friend  that 
sticks  closer  than  a  brother. 

All  this  comes  under  the  Master's  great  words,  "Lay 
not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth,  where 
moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  break 
through  and  steal,  but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures 
in  heaven." 

God  is  whispering  to  the  inner  consciousness,  "I 
will  not  leave  thee;  I  am  thy  God,  even  forevermore." 

The  man  who  finds  his  joy  in  righteous  doing  is  in- 
vesting for  eternity. 


158  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

XII 

The  heart  of  man  is  naturally  proud.  He  objects 
to  be  called  or  thought  a  spiritual  pauper.  He  doesn't 
like  to  admit  himself  a  beggar  at  the  gate  of  mercy,  and 
yet  that  is  exactly  the  position  all  have  got  to  come  to. 

As  the  prophet  says :  ''All  we,  like  sheep,  have  gone 
astray.  We  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way.'* 
And  Paul  said  later,  ''All  have  sinned  and  come  short 
of  the  glory  of  God." 

The  average  man  and  woman  is  quite  prepared  to 
confess  the  other  fellow  is  a  sinner,  who  must  repent 
and  turn  to  God.  But  it  is  the  feeling  of  deep  con- 
viction in  my  own  heart  that  I  have  sinned  and  that 
I  am  a  rebel  against  God  that  is  absolutely  necessary. 

Jesus  has  nothing  to  say  and  nothing  to  do  for  the 
self-righteous.  He  came  for  sinners.  When  a  man 
feels  his  sin  and  how  undone  it  has  made  him,  he  will 
be  ready  to  call  for  the  doctor  who  can  cure  his 
disease. 

He  will  then  be  ready  to  confess  his  sin  openly,  if 
necessary,  before  the  world,  in  order  that  pardon  and 
cleansing  may  be  his,  and  healing  come  to  the  wounds 
which  sin  has  caused. 

No  conventions,  no  pride,  real  or  false,  and  no 
shame  will  he  allow  to  stand  between  him  and  the 
only  source  which  can  give  him  relief.  He  must  con- 
fess openly — and  what  is  more,  he  desires  to  do  it, 
when  he  gets  to  the  place  where  he  wishes  sincerely 
to  be  healed  and  saved. 

If,  perchance,  he  fell  on  his  knees  in  his  own  bed- 
room and  made  full  surrender  to  God  and  trusted  Him 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  159 

for  salvation  and  received  it,  do  you  suppose  he  could 
keep  silent  about  it?  The  very  joy  of  it  would  send 
him  out,  and  he  would  want  everybody  to  know  of 
the  Lord's  mercy. 

This  is  the  method  of  the  working  of  His  grace. 
Remember  that  Jesus  said :  "Whosoever  shall  confess 
me  before  men,  him  will  I  confess  also  before  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven." 


XIII 

WeVe  only  one  Hfe  in  this  world  and  if  we  play 
the  fool  with  it  we  have  to  answer  somewhere  and 
to  somebody.  If  a  man  wastes  his  physical  energies 
and  destroys  his  health  by  his  own  sin,  then  all  the 
doctors  will  tell  him  that  he  must  stand  before  the 
judgment  bar  of  health.  Nature  and  the  physical  laws, 
whether  we  like  them  or  not,  always  present  their  bill 
for  payment. 

Too  often  youth  does  not  realise  the  value  of  life 
and  the  wisdom  of  living  it  as  it  should  be  done.  Their 
need  is  not  to  prepare  for  death,  but  for  showing  a 
life  approved  by  God. 

What  will  help  youth  to  live  the  best  life — the  kind 
that  brings  satisfaction  to  the  conscience  and  pride 
to  mothers  and  fathers  ?  Just  one  thing — the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

And  though  youth  may  sometimes  sneer  and  assume 
an  attitude  of  skepticism,  saying  that  religion  is  played 
out,  the  mightiest  men  and  minds  of  this  and  past 
generations  will  all  tell  you  that  Jesus  Christ  and  His 
message  of  love  to  the  world  is  the  only  cure  for  the 


160  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

ills  of  the  world,  and  the  only  power  which  comes 
into  human  life  and  stills  its  storms  and  gives  peace. 

Ask  Sir  James  Simpson,  the  great  discoverer  of 
chloroform,  to  tell  you  what  was  the  greatest  discovery 
he  ever  made.  He  will  answer,  as  he  did  to  this  very 
question  put  to  him,  'That  I  have  a  Savior."  Ask  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge,  the  greatest  living  scientist,  and  he  will 
say  that,  although  an  agnostic  in  his  younger  days, 
by  sheer  scientific  research  he  was  driven  at  the  end 
to  belief  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  one  real  power  and 
Savior  of  the  world. 

William  Ewart  Gladstone  told  the  world  that  after 
all  his  experience  as  a  statesman,  all  his  thinking 
and  reading,  that  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
all  men  had  to  receive  Jesus  Christ  as  a  little  child. 
These  are  only  samples  of  the  greatest  minds  in  history. 
If  these  colossal  brains  could  accept  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  believe  Him  the  Savior  of  all  men, 
surely  where  these  could  afford  to  tread,  we  may  fol- 
low and  find  pardon  for  sin  and  strength  for  right. 

XIV 

No  one  should  ever  be  able  to  say  of  any  woman, 
"She  made  it  easy  for  a  man  to  do  wrong."  God 
never  made  a  woman  thus,  to  pull  men  down,  but  to 
be  companion,  wife,  mother,  friend  and  inspiration  at 
all  times. 

I  suppose  you  would  call  Herodias  and  her  daugh- 
ter, Salome,  "vamps"  to-day. 

She  danced  Herod  into  the  pit  of  perdition,  and 
danced  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist  off.     Her  whole 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  161 

life  was  given  over  to  evil,  self-indulgence  and  voluptu- 
ous pleasure.  It  ended  in  the  ruin  of  the  king  and  the 
disgrace  of  his  court,  the  degradation  of  her  own  child 
and  a  place  in  Bible  history  as  the  cruel  murderess 
of  the  forerunner  and  cousin  of  Christ. 

Another  example  of  a  vampire  woman  is  Drusilla, 
the  mate  of  Felix,  who  left  her  first  husband  to  live 
with  the  governor.  When  the  Apostle  Paul  stood  be- 
fore the  pair,  he  spoke  pointedly  of  morality  and  fu- 
ture punishment.  The  governor  trembled,  but  Drusilla 
was  unabashed. 

Just  as  it  is  possible  for  women  to  soar  to  heights 
unreached  by  men,  so  is  it  possible  for  women  to  fall 
farther  than  any  man,  once  they  start  downward. 

It  is  within  the  power  of  women  to  make  the  world 
anew.  They  can  inspire  the  noblest  instincts  of  men, 
and  ought  to  do  nothing  through  their  general  deport- 
ment and  manner  of  dress  that  would  lower  the  respect 
in  which  they  are  held. 

The  erring  woman  of  the  Bible  who  is  best  known  is 
Mary  Magdalene.  She  saw  the  folly  and  error  of 
her  ways  and  in  penitence  of  tears  sought  the  feet  of 
Jesus.  Looking  into  her  heart,  and  knowing  she  was 
penitent,  Jesus  said:  "Thy  sins  are  forgiven." 

Oh,  the  love  which  forgets  the  sin  and  remembers 
the  sinner,  in  mercy  and  compassion.  That  is  the 
Christianity  I  am  preaching  to-day. 

XV 

For  what  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak 
through  the  flesh,  God  sending  His  own  Son  in  the 


162  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and  for  sin,  condemned  sin 
in  the  flesh. 

That  the  righteousness  of  the  law  might  be  ful- 
filled in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after 
the  Spirit. — Romans  viii.  3 : 4. 

If  you  get  your  heart  right,  you  will  want  your 
body  to  be  right,  too.  We  can't  purify  the  well  by 
painting  the  bucket.  That  is  why  it  is  a  mistake  to 
spend  so  much  time  tinkering  with  externals  instead 
of  dealing  with  the  real,  basic  things. 

There  is  a  savage  race  in  the  Orient  whose  women 
wear  seventeen  skirts,  but  that  does  not  make  them 
Christians,  or  even  moral. 

As  I  said  in  my  sermon  the  other  night,  "Let  your 
heart  dictate,  not  your  head." 

Hazlitt,  the  English  essayist,  was  right  when  he 
advised  that  in  any  question  of  moral  or  spiritual  liv- 
ing, one  who  trusted  his  head  alone  was  most  hkely 
to  go  wrong. 

This  isn't  making  religion  a  senseless,  blind,  foolish 
thing,  for  by  letting  the  heart  lead,  the  mind  follows, 
and  one  comes  to  believe  with  all  his  mind,  his  strength 
and  his  soul. 

I  believe  in  setting  up  the  New  Testament  standard 
of  religion. 

People  are  quick  to  accept  this  and  say,  "That's  the 
thing  I  want;  that's  my  mother's  religion." 

Hearing  the  message  in  this  way  they  don't  shy  off. 

The  New  Testament  standard  is  "Ye  must  be  bom 
again." 

No  man  can  live  a  new  life  with  an  old  heart.     He 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  163 

must  be  converted  and  become  as  a  child.     The  new 
life  demands  a  new  heart. 

We  cannot  keep  the  Ten  Commandments  as  law — 
they  must  become  more  of  a  personal  contract  with 
God.  God  is  after  the  individual — the  last,  the  lost, 
the  least. 


XVI 

There  are  some  in  this  world  who  are  debtors  to 
the  people,  and  the  time  comes  when  each  of  them 
must  render  an  accounting. 

Let  it  still  be  remembered  that  the  Scriptures  de- 
clare: 'To  him  that  knoweth  to  do  good,  and  doeth 
it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin."  So,  some  people  are  bigger 
sinners  than  they  appear.  The  amount  of  my  light 
determines  the  amount  of  my  responsibility  and  the 
amount  of  my  sin,  if  the  light  be  not  lived  up  to.  If 
people  sin  in  the  face  of  light  which  shows  them  the 
right  way,  then  their  condemnation  is  all  the  greater. 

The  debtors  of  the  people  are  its  leaders.  I  wonder 
what  would  happen  if  the  strongest  men  and  women 
in  the  city  would  set  the  example  of  Christian  living. 
I  mean  those  strongest  in  an  educational,  financial 
and  social  way;  those  who  are  looked  upon  as  the 
prominent  ones  in  the  city.  If  these  will  only  conduct 
their  lives  with  a  clear  conscience  so  they  can  take 
their  stand  and  lead  also  in  the  spiritual  world,  what 
would  happen? 

No  one  can  estimate  the  good  that  would  be  done 
if  these  pivotal  people  consecrated  themselves  to  the 
service  of  Jesus   Christ.     After  all,   culture,   money 


164  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

and  breeding  do  count — people  look  up  to  those  for- 
tunate enough  to  possess  these  qualities.  And  the 
holders  should  feel  their  responsibility  to  those  less 
fortunate.  For  the  God  of  Love  who  sits  on  the 
throne  is  also  the  God  of  Justice. 

Some  day  He's  coming  back  to  this  old  earth,  and 
Jesus  is  coming,  coming  back  to  claim  His  own.  He 
will  ask  what  the  man  of  culture  did  with  his  learn- 
ing, what  the  man  of  wealth  did  with  his  riches,  what 
those  of  social  position  did  with  their  opportunities 
and  powers.  We'll  all  have  to  render  an  accounting. 
Some  day  we'll  find  out  that  we  are  to  be  judged,  not 
only  for  what  we  have  done,  not  only  for  breaking  the 
moral  law,  but  for  the  things  we  might  have  done  if 
we  had  been  less  selfish  and  less  interested  in  the  ag- 
grandizement to  be  gotten  out  of  our  privilege. 

Jesus  once  borrowed  a  man's  fishing  boat,  and  from 
that  old  fish-smelling  boat  preached  a  sermon  to  the 
hungry  multitude.  That  boat  was  Simon's  business, 
his  daily  avocation.  And  Jesus  is  saying  to  the  man 
of  culture:  *'Let  me  help  you  spread  the  knowledge 
that  will  save  the  world;"  to  the  man  of  wealth: 
"Let  me  help  make  your  dollars  honestly  and  then 
spend  them  for  the  kingdom  of  righteousness;"  and 
to  the  man  and  woman  of  society :  "Let  me  come  into 
your  homes  and  leaven  your  programme  of  entertain- 
ment, so  that  every  flower,  every  note  of  music,  the 
spread  table  and  the  evening  of  fellowship  will  show 
my  presence."  Let  your  every  deed  shine  so  that  your 
friends  will  say,  "This  man  and  this  woman  have 
been  with  Jesus,  and  learned  of  Him." 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  165 

XVII 

Jesus  thought  less  of  property  rights  than  of  human 
rights.  For  all  that,  he  did  not  preach  that  it  was  a 
sin  to  be  rich.  He  was  not  interested  in  how  much 
wealth  a  man  had,  but  how  he  got  it  and  what  he 
did  with  it. 

The  great  Master  knew  what  He  was  saying  when 
He  uttered  those  arresting  words,  "How  hardly  shall 
they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  kingdom."  Fol- 
lowing that  He  said :  "It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go 
through  a  needle's  eye,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God."  Of  course,  you  know 
that  the  needle's  eye  was  the  inner  gate  of  the  city, 
to  enter  which  the  camels  had  to  get  down  on  their 
knees. 

When  prosperity  becomes  a  god,  men  live  only  for 
making  profits  and  satisfying  their  desires.  In  another 
place  it  is  written,  '*If  riches  increase,  set  not  thy  heart 
upon  them."  We  are  also  told  that  the  love  of  money 
is  the  root  of  all  evil.  Jesus  Christ  when  saying  that 
it  was  hard  for  the  rich  to  enter  heaven  was  teaching 
the  great  fact  that  the  rich  have  greater  temptations 
to  self-indulgence,  to  extravagance,  to  outward  display 
and  to  dissipation  than  have  the  ordinary  run  of  men. 
The  desire  to  outdo  all  others  in  the  race  and  to  go 
the  other  fellow  one  better  helps  men  to  forget  God 
and  the  needs  of  their  brothers. 

Those  who  possess  wealth  are  under  terrific  respon- 
sibility. Let  them  read  the  closing  verses  of  the  25th 
chapter  of  Matthew,  where  Jesus  consigns  to  punish- 


166  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

ment  eternal  those  who  possessed  the  ability  to  feed 
the  hungry  and  clothe  the  naked  and  comfort  the  sick 
and  those  in  prison.  These  people  were  rich  enough 
to  do,  but  were  so  taken  up  with  fulfilling  the  lusts  of 
the  flesh  that  they  did  not  think  of  any  one  but  them- 
selves. 

The  greed  of  men  is  never  satisfied,  and  the  more 
they  get,  the  more  they  want,  as  if  their  hands  were 
born  clutching.  As  though  stocks,  bonds,  skyscrapers, 
automobiles,  fine  clothes,  fast  company  and  expensive 
dinners  were  the  main  things  in  the  world.  They  for- 
get that  these  are  the  things  that  go  first  and  that  hon- 
ours perish  and  decay.    That's  the  way  of  the  world. 

The  wisest  of  kings  and  the  richest  of  men,  after 
trying  all  that  the  human  mind  could  think  of  or  de- 
sire, before  he  left  the  world  staggered  amid  his  own 
misery  of  spirit,  said,  all  was  vanity  and  vexation. 
Put  this  alongside  the  words  of  Jesus  to  the  people 
who  left  all  to  follow  him,  consecrating  everything, 
such  as  it  was,  to  the  service  of  the  Master  and  those 
for  whom  he  died :  'Teace  I  leave  with  you,  my  peace 
I  give  unto  you.''  (The  world  giveth  excitement,  he 
giveth  peace. )  "Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither 
let  it  be  afraid.'* 

XVIII 

Paul  said,  "All  things  are  lawful,  but  all  things  are 
not  expedient."  He  was  a  big  enough  Christian  and 
a  big  enough  man  to  be  willing  to  sacrifice  even  those 
things  he  liked,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  but 
for  the  sake  of  his  fellow  men. 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  167 

Hence  he  declared,  "What  things  were  gain  to  me, 
those  I  counted  loss  for  Christ,  that  I  may  know  Him, 
and  the  power  of  His  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship 
of  His  sufferings." 

There  we  have  self-denial  for  the  sake  of  personal 
fellowship  with  God.  Now  hear  him  in  his  willingness 
to  sacrifice  his  tastes  and  desires  for  the  sake  of  the 
weak  men  and  women  around  Him.  And  you  hear 
these  words,  ''If  meat  causeth  my  brother  to  stumble, 
I  will  eat  no  flesh  for  evermore." 

That's  the  big  spirit  of  Christianity. 

I  verily  believe  that  I  could  do  many  things  without 
sinning  against  God,  or  against  my  conscience.  Some 
things  I'm  thinking  of  now  I  would  enjoy  doing.  But 
what  about  the  man  who  looks  up  to  me,  who  hasn't 
my  light  and  my  point  of  view,  and  doesn't  see  as  I 
see?    Ought  I  to  ignore  him? 

Should  I  not  rather  consider  his  weakness?  If  I 
am  stronger  than  he,  should  I  not  be  willing  to  carry 
his  burden — him,  too,  if  necessary — in  order  that  he 
may  be  saved? 

I  have  no  right  as  a  Christian  or  as  a  man,  either 
in  public  or  private,  to  take  my  pleasures  at  the  ex- 
pense of  another's  ruin.  This  applies  to  all  the  walks 
of  life,  in  business,  in  the  home  and  everywhere. 

We  must  apply  the  spirit  of  Jesus  in  all  these  mat- 
ters, remembering  that  the  apostle  said  of  Him  that 
even  Christ  pleased  not  Himself.  Then  he  turns  right 
around  to  me  and  says :  "Let  this  mind  be  in  you,  which 
was  also  in  Christ  Jesus." 


168  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

XIX 

It  has  been  said  that  the  hand  that  rocks  the  cradle 
rules  the  world.  Next  to  the  mother  in  influence  comes 
the  school  teacher,  whose  task  it  is  to  train  the  mind 
of  the  future  generation. 

The  teacher  has  the  boy  and  girl  under  his  or  her 
influence  in  the  formative,  tender  years,  the  impres- 
sionable years,  when  seeds  are  sown  that  bring  forth 
the  harvest.  What  the  harvest  will  be,  whether  good 
or  ill,  depends  on  the  home  and  the  school. 

What  the  children  are  taught  in  the  first  ten  years 
of  their  school  life  largely  forms  the  foundation  on 
which  they  build  their  future.  The  structure  can 
never  stand  unless  it  is  built  on  a  solid  foundation. 
If  I  could  have  the  mothers  and  fathers  and  teachers 
loyal  to  Christ  for  the  next  twenty  years  in  English- 
speaking  lands,  we  could  capture  the  planet  for  the 
Lord  Christ. 

It  is  not  enough  simply  to  teach  boys  and  girls  to 
read,  write,  add  figures  and  master  science,  art,  litera- 
ture and  languages.  They  must  be  taught,  like  Tim- 
othy, the  Scriptures,  and  learn  to  see  God's  view  of 
men  and  things,  and  to  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness.  This  is  essential  if  boys  and 
girls  are  to  grow  up  into  a  generation  of  pure,  strong, 
noble,  clean,  honest.  God-fearing  men  and  women. 

And  surely  that  is  and  should  be  the  business  of 
the  schools.  Unless  that  is  the  purpose  of  school  life, 
in  the  midst  of  mind  training  you  may  have  a  cultured 
person  so  far  as  learning  goes,  but  with  a  heart  filled, 
like  the  Pharisees,  with  uncleanliness.  .  They  were  cul- 


TWO-MINUTE  SERMONETTES  169 

tured,  but  Jesus  said  to  them :  "Ye  cleanse  the  outside 
of  the  cup  and  of  the  platter,  but  within  they  are  full 
from  extortion  and  excess." 

Some  of  the  biggest  scoundrels  I  have  known  have 
been  university  men  and  women.  The  head  may  be 
trained  and  may  be  filled  with  all  sorts  of  good  things, 
while  the  heart  is  starved  because  it  is  estranged  from 
God. 

The  truest  culture  is  that  which  takes  in  mind,  body 
and  soul.    That  is  the  programme  of  Jesus  Christ. 


XX 

If  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  read  with  as  much 
interest  as  an  article  in  the  newspaper,  the  conclusion 
must  be  arrived  at  that  society  is  wrong.  No  man 
can  read  it  without  feeling,  if  he  is  honest  with  him- 
self, that  civilization  is  far  from  perfect,  that  changes 
must  come. 

Two  things  are  needful, — the  conscience  to  recognise 
the  truth,  to  crystallise  it  devoid  of  impurity,  and  the 
determination  to  put  truth  into  action. 

Men  and  women  are  not  dying  to-day  for  want  of 
light.  The  average  man  has  light  enough  to 
distinguish  between  right  and  wrong.  Knowledge  is 
abundant  enough,  but  conscience  is  scarce.  No,  we  are 
not  dying  for  want  of  light,  but  for  lack  of  honesty. 
"This  is  the  condemnation,  that  light  is  come  into  the 
world,  and  men  loved  darkness  rather  than  light,"  and 
this  is  the  reason,  "because  their  deeds  were  evil." 

And  Jesus  said :  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 
When  men  get  adjusted  to  God,  they  soon  get  adjusted 


170  EVANGELISTIC  TALKS 

with  their  neighbours.  Suppose,  instead  of  a  few 
working  crystals,  every  man  should  be  full  of  the  godly 
light  and  love  for  his  fellows.  That  would  be  like 
heaven.  When  Jesus  taught  us  to  pray,  "Our  Father" 
instead  of  "My  Father,"  he  was  thinking  of  a  united 
humanity. 

This  world  can  not  be  run  by  men.  They  can't  run 
it  by  themselves  along  the  line  laid  down  in  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount.  The  job  is  too  gigantic.  Only  the 
fool  says:  "There  is  no  God,"  or  "I  can  do  without 
him." 

Let  God  come  back  to  His  own,  and  there'll  be 
fellowship  and  friendship,  the  brotherhood  of  the 
world. 


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